Not What You See
by Laura-Grace
Summary: AU This was his last shot. If he got returned from this foster home, he was out on the streets. They thought they could handle whatever he threw at them. But unlike their other foster sons, there was a great hurt inside Kai Hiwatari. And now they weren
1. The New Boy

Not What You See__

_A/U   This was his last shot. If he got returned from this foster home, he was out on the streets. They thought they could handle whatever he threw at them. But unlike their other foster sons, there was a great hurt inside Kai Hiwatari. And now they weren't sure they could help him…_

A/N: All right, so I got the idea from Smile Empty Soul, by Identity Thief. It's on my favourites list (and so is she!), I command thee to go read it and review it! After you read mine, of course! ^-^ But I won't do anywhere near as good of a job as her. Even though my plot is slightly different. Well, more than slightly different. Tyson and Chief aren't coming this story as main characters, just as a 'pop-in-and-pop-out' type of character. And I'm using English first names and Japanese last names (as far as I know)

DISCLAIMER: I own only Sebastien, Larysa, Blanche, Gemma, Roarke, Camden, Lydia, Anna, Natalie, Gabriel, Clara, Jocelyn, Todd, Harper, November, Kirk, Regine, Marina and Griffith.

**_Chapter 1:: The New Boy_**

                "Kirk, don't forget to—"

                "Drop off the school registrations and go pick up Rei from the mall and get the groceries and pick up Marina from dance and pick up Max from soccer and pick up Griffith from Lyndon's house and mail off the bills and fill up the tank." Kirk Toshiro finished. "Don't worry, Regine. I'm a big boy."

                "I know, but I still worry about you." Regine laughed.

                "Hey, Kirk!" Rei Kon called as he ran for the van. "Wow, I'm the first one. I claim shotgun!" he hopped up onto the passenger seat.

                "Have fun roaming the mall aimlessly?" Kirk asked as he drove out of the parking lot.

                "Of course, of course." Rei laughed, pulling a Rurouni Kenshin graphic novel from his bag and burying himself in it.

                Kirk rolled his eyes and pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store. "You coming?"

                "Yeah, sure," Rei said absently, groping for the car door handle while reading the manga.

                "Never mind, Rei," Kirk said. "Just stay in the car and read."

                "All right."

                Regine was finishing up the preparations for dinner when the doorbell rang.

                She opened the door to find Mr. Dickinson, the family's collective social worker, standing on the step with a very sullen-looking teenager behind him. "Oh, hello, Stanley. You're earlier than I expected. Kirk's only just left to pick up the kids and run a few errands. Come in."

                "Thank you, Regine." Mr. Dickinson said cheerfully.

                "And you must be Kai." Regine said to the teen behind him. Looking up briefly at mention of his name, he returned to looking around at his new neighbourhood.

                'Oh, this is revolting.' Kai Hiwatari thought disgustedly. 'Where's Pollyanna?'

                The entire neighbourhood screamed NUCLEAR, WELL-ADJUSTED, PERFECT FAMILIES LIVE HERE! Right down to the perfectly tended lawns, gardens and houses. This one was an off-white two story with an attached garage, which at the moment was empty of vehicles but contained a young girl's bike, a young boy's bike and two youth boy's bikes, along with the various other junk that nobody wanted to put in their perfectly-clean house.

                "Kai, come inside," Regine said again. Muttering under his breath to himself, Kai complied and his suspicions were confirmed. The house was squeaky clean, like something out of an interior decorators' magazine. It was also quite bright. The room that was evidently the living room was sky blue walls with light green trimmings along the floor and pastel yellow furniture and curtains, and the hallways between rooms were all beige and covered with photos in frames and various certificates and notes. It was so cheerful that Kai nearly flinched with the happiness of it all.

                "Well," Mr. Dickinson said uneasily. "Since the other two haven't arrived back, I'll come again in a couple of hours and check in on you guys then."

                "All right, Stanley," Regine smiled.

                By the time the group had arrived home, Regine had gotten Kai to settle into his room, and was setting the table. Kai was still in his room on the second floor, listening to his Discman and brooding about how quickly he should get himself kicked out of _this _place. Granted, it would be great to stay a for a longer while than he ever had before, just get Dickinson's hopes up and then smash them brutally; but he didn't think he could live in this Pollyanna house for half a year.

                There was a bang as the door opened downstairs, and the sounds of Regine scolding whoever had banged it open.

                "'You'll chip my lovely paint!'" Kai mimicked. "Heaven forbid we get even the slightest incongruity in the house." He muttered. (In reality, Regine had told Max that he would break the door down and hurt himself one day if he kept doing that, but Kai was having a good deal of amusement imagining the most airheaded response.)

                "Stanley came just after you left, Kirk," Regine said.

                "Wow. He was early." Max commented. "He never comes until after dinner."

                "Yeah, well, Kai's up in his bedroom, so when you two boys go up there, just drop off your stuff and ask him to come down for dinner. Max, change into some clean clothes and throw your uniform in the laundry. Rei, get your nose out of that manga, you have all night to read it."

                "Hmm?" Rei answered, looking up. Regine rolled her eyes. "Close the manga, Rei. It's dinnertime. Drop your bag upstairs and tell Kai to come down for dinner."

                "Kai?" Rei asked. "Oh. New Guy."

                "Kai." Regine told him. "Not New Guy. Kai. He's your age."

                "Right. Kai." Rei answered absently. "Gotcha."

                Curiosity killed the Rei and once he had dropped off his backpack in his very green room across the hall from what had originally been a spare bedroom, he cracked the door open and got a surprise when the occupant threw something at the door. "Yi!"

                He pushed the door open and discovered it had been a duffel bag, not even unpacked, that had threatened his head's well-being. "Kai?"

                "What?" came the sullen reply.

                "Regine says to come down for dinner," Rei said quickly and split.

                'Come down for… oh.' Kai mused, setting aside his Discman. 'This is a Pollyanna family in a Pollyanna neighbourhood. They all eat together at a specific time.'

                Kai came down the steps, listening as two young voices argued happily over who got which end of the bench. He took in the scene in silence.

                Regine was bringing food over to the table, while a man Kai thought to be Kirk was discussing something with a blonde boy a couple of years younger than him. A boy who looked Chinese and about his age was buried in a graphic novel. 'Hmm. Rurouni Kenshin. Kid's got good taste.' The two youngest ones, a girl about eight and a boy about five were still bantering.

                Regine looked up. "Oh, Kai. There you are. Rei, for heaven's sake, close the book!"

                "But I was getting to the _best_ part!" Rei whined, placing his bookmark in the manga and closing it.

                "That will make it even better to read after you've reached the year 2002 for a while." Kirk told him.

                Kai felt something furry settle on his foot and instinctively shook it off, causing the white cat to meow in complaint and stalk off to Rei, who lifted the cat up onto his lap.

                "You didn't need to do that." Rei snapped, stroking the cat.

                "Rei, put that cat down." Regine sighed. "I've told you a thousand times: no pets at the table."

                "All right, all right." Rei grumbled, setting Driger back down.

                "You're not allergic, are you, dear?" Regine asked Kai, who shook his head. "_Are you allergic to anything?"_

                Kai shook his head.

                By the end of the dinner, of which he hadn't touched a morsel, Kai was convinced he would get himself thrown out of this one as soon as he could. They looked exactly like Sebastien and Mother and Natalie had looked like.


	2. Of Police and Foster Homes Galore

Not What You See

A/N: Soooooo? And just to let you know, I just finished reading this _horribly_ sad true story about these twins who were abused by their stepfather for twelve years. What's scary is it happened in my province. If you want to read it, it's Where Children Run, by Karen Emilson. I warn you though: don't read it if you're weak-stomached.

DISCLAIMER:  I own only whom I own.

**_Chapter 2:: Of Police And Foster Homes Galore_**

                "Kai! Rei! Max!" Kirk hollered up the stairs. "You're going to be late!"

                Rei and Max both clattered down the stairs, arguing loudly over who got first dibs on the toaster. Marina and Griffith were discussing what they would do first when they reached school. Regine had already left for her job as designer for a children's fashion boutique and hair salon downtown, which explained why all her children always had the latest in fashion. Kirk was just about ready to leave for his own job as an interior designer/decorator, also downtown. He would habitually give all the kids a ride to school and they took their respective buses home, Marina and Griff by school bus, the other boys by public.

                "Hey, where's Kai?" Kirk asked as he was rushing each kid out the door. "Kai!"

                Kai had actually left an hour or so earlier, choosing to walk and skip his first day, seeing as it would probably be years before his school files caught up with him. He had his own stash of bus tickets, but simply walked down through the neighbourhood, past the school until he reached a more affluent neighbourhood.

                "Hey, Kai!" a voice called and Kai looked up as a red-haired boy dressed in the private school uniform of Ives Academy, the school he had attended for a couple of months about three years back. "Long time no see!"

                "Oh, hi, Tala!" Kai called back, cracking a slight smile.

                "Do you realize that they _still_ think you're enrolled at Ives?" Tala Nanase asked, rolling his eyes. 

                "Oh, so _that_'s why they can't find my school files anywhere." Kai mused.

                To look at Kai and Tala, you would never guess they were cousins. Actually, _they didn't even know this, and probably never would. Tala's deceased biological mother had been Kai's deceased father's sister. They had always been inseparable friends for the past two years, even though Kai got sent off packing to yet another foster home what seemed like every two months. And even after that, they always seemed to run into each other, at the malls, on the streets, in the parks, at the pier…_

                Kai and Tala continued to talk animatedly until they reached the gates of Ives and then they bid their see-yas and Kai kept on strolling down the boulevard. 

                After the school day had ended, Kai grabbed a bus back to the Toshiros from the megamall downtown, the same one that Regine worked at, and thus it being a miracle she didn't spot him.

                When it stopped at Montague High School, Rei climbed on with a group of friends, talking the whole while. When he saw Kai already sitting on the bus, he frowned.

                One of his friends, Mariah Keilin, looked over where Rei was staring and she nudged, whispering, "So that's the guy everybody was trying to find today?" Rei nodded. "He's cute." (A/N: NO! NO THIS IS NOT KAI/MARIAH!! UGH!)

                Rei and his other three friends (A/N: guess who?) Li Bailon, Gary Long, and Kevin Akki all looked at her like she was some weird person. She immediately reddened and mumbled something about it being true if you're into those kind of guys.

                Kirk and Regine were both nearly beside themselves with anger when the three teens arrived home.

                "Kai!" Kirk snapped immediately. Max and Rei both zipped out of the kitchen, leaving Kai looking slightly startled for a moment, then impassive again. "What did you think you were _doing_?! Being 15 doesn't give you the right to leave the house without telling us and skipping the _entire school day_!"

                Kai shrugged. He knew this facade of nicety wouldn't have lasted too much longer. It had been the same way with Sebastien. He had trusted him, even liked him, but then his real side came through. Mentally, Kai shut out Kirk and Regine's rantings until the words "To your room all night and no dinner," poked their way into his consciousness.

                "Now," Regine ordered, pointing towards the staircase. Kai simply shrugged and the door clicked shut forlornly.

                Max had been listening to it from upstairs and was quite intrigued that Kai hadn't even argued. Silently, he slipped out of his own room and slid down the hardwood flooring to Kai's room, where he finally remembered to knock on the door. He wasn't used to that: he and Rei just both came rampaging into each other's rooms at odd random moments.

                "Whaddaya want?" Kai growled, quickly shoving something under his pillow.

                "N—n—n—nothing," Max squeaked, surprised at the angry tone and forgetting why he had come in the first place.

                "Then beat it!"

                Max complied. Pushing Rei's door open, he threw himself down on the bed and plucked out one of Rei's Rurouni Kenshin mangas from the small bookshelf, and slipped back to his own room.

                "MAX!" Rei hollered down the hallway after dinner. "WHERE'S MY MANGA?!"

                "WHY WOULD I HAVE IT?!" Max hollered right back.

                "BECAUSE YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE IN THIS HOUSE THAT TAKES MY MANGA!"

                "OH RIGHT! I TOOK VOLUME 28[1]!"

                "I KNOW THAT! GIVE IT BACK!"

                "SHUT UP!!!!!!!" Kai's voice hollered.

                "WHY SHOULD WE?!" Rei and Max both hollered back.

                "BOYS!" Kirk yelled.

                "SORRY, KIRK!" Max and Rei both called in unison.

                At 10:00, Regine went upstairs. "Rei, Max, Kai, bed." She ordered softly. She knocked briefly on Kai's door, more as a warning then a request, before she opened it.

                This room had always been a spare, so it had pretty much the bare necessities and no more: a bed, dresser and desk. It was easily the most boring room in the house and Regine could tell Kirk was eager to start attacking it with paint and brush and go shopping for decorations. The white walls were immaculate, the desk and dresser free of any clutter, the bed made up. Kai's duffel bag was lying on the ground by the door, clothes still folded neatly inside it. What looked like a notebook of some sort was barely visible from under the pillow. Inside a second, much smaller duffel bag, what appeared to be graphic novels were neatly stacked, all without a scratch on them — quite a change from Rei's well-used ones. A Discman and a few CDs were set carefully on top of them.

                Then she realized Kai wasn't there.

                Three hours later, there was a knock at the door and Regine opened it to find a pair of policemen, who were looking distinctly disgruntled, hauling Kai back between them.

                "Kai, I am appalled." Regine told him sternly. "Go into the living room and wait for me." Kai slunk off, defeated for tonight. "Thank you so much, sirs." She said to the officers.

                "Ma'am, if you think you're going to turn him respectable, good luck," the older officer told her frankly. "Plenty of people have tried and failed. I've been hauling him back to foster homes all over the city for 3 years. I don't think the kid's capable of a decent act."

                Rei and Max were both eavesdropping at the top of the stairs. They looked at each other and silently agreed that this time, Regine and Kirk had gotten in over their heads. They both crept back to their bedrooms before Kirk caught them.

                "Kai, what were you thinking?" Regine raged. "No, wait, scratch that. You _weren't thinking! You're only 15! Who knows what could've happened?! Out on the streets by yourself at this time of night!"_

                "Regine, calm down," Kirk said quietly.

                Regine ignored him and continued to rant and rave. Kai continued to ignore her, eyes closed and arms crossed.

                About six and a half hours later, the household awoke into activity again. Both Kirk and Regine had to get to work early that day, so the kids were on their own for getting to school. The school bus came at 8 for Marina and Griff. The three teens were sitting in the kitchen quickly inhaling breakfast. At least, Max and Rei were. Kai was just sitting.

                "I guess we'd better leave now if we're going to make to school on time." Rei said softly, still unsure of how to act around Kai.

                "All right," Max acquiesced.

                "… and the _police_ brought him back?" Li asked interestedly at lunch.

                "At one in the morning," Rei affirmed. "The officer told Regine he's been picking Kai up all over the city at all hours for three years. He's a hopeless case, apparently."

                "Not a big talker, is he?" Kevin asked. "He's in my English class. Didn't say a word the entire class. Not even when Aichi asked him a direct question."

                "He nearly killed Darrell Sanasuko in gym," Gary said. All the group's eyes widened. "We started out with boxing. They had to haul in three teachers to separate him and Darrell. They brought in the police."

                Mariah shuddered. "So _that's_ why he never showed up for art class."

                "_Art class?" Rei asked skeptically._

                "Don't ask me." Mariah said. "He's on the list."

                "_Art class." Rei repeated disbelievingly. "No way."_

                To Rei's surprise, Kirk was waiting outside the doors of the school, Max, Marina and Griff already in the back, Kai in the front, looking irritated.

                "Hey, Kirk." Rei greeted, then turned his attention to Kai. "Are they telling the truth? Did you really get hauled off by the police for getting a little too violent in boxing?"

                "Hmm-mm." Kai responded.

                "A little too violent?!" Kirk exploded, causing them all to jump. "That Sanasuko boy is _hospitalized_!"

                "Ouch." Rei muttered.

                "He's got a rap sheet as long as my arm!" Kirk hissed to Regine later that night, when they thought all the kids were asleep. "He's a _nutcase, Regine! He attacked that boy because he __wanted to!"_

                "Kirk—"

                "No, Regine, this time I'm putting my foot down. We can't keep him. We'll be compromising the other children's safety. What if it's Rei or Max next? Or worse yet, Marina or Griff? He's a bomb waiting to go off."

                Kai was listening from the top of the stairs. When he heard this, he slipped back into his room and jumped out of his second-story window silently five minutes later. He didn't hear Regine pleading with Kirk that he just needed time and treatment like a blood child.

                'Should've guessed it.' Kai thought to himself. 'Should've known it wouldn't last long. My own parents didn't want me, what would make me think somebody else's parents would?' He swung onboard the public bus as it stopped.

                At the entrance to Ramsay Estates, Kai got off the bus and headed down William Blvd. Reaching number 3131, he tossed a couple of pebbles at the second-story window. A minute later, Tala's sleepy head poked out the window. "Oh, hi, Kai." He yawned, tossing down a rope ladder. "C'mon up."

                "You _what_?" Tala asked incredulously.

                "Went a little overboard in boxing." Kai answered sheepishly.

                "Repressed rage, anybody?" Tala said half-jokingly. "So what'd this set do to you?"

                "The usual," Kai answered. "She screeched at me, he ignored me and is probably phoning Dickinson right now to tell him to take me back cause I'm a nutcase. You want exact phrasing?"

                "Sure," Tala said.

                "'He's a nutcase.' 'He's a bomb waiting to go off.'"

                "Ouch. That hurts."

                "Yeah. So, you think yours will mind if I stay here a couple of nights? They don't have a clue who you are, so I'm fairly safe. I'll head back once Dickinson finally thinks he's gotten rid of me. You would think he would've just given up after the first… ten… homes."

                "This is home number 11?"

                "No." Kai answered. "In Tokyo, this is home number… 14. Overall, this is home number… 25."__

                "Yi." Tala winced.

                "Tala, what's goin on in there?" the sleepy voice of his older brother Nicholas called down the hall. "You talkin' to yourself again?"

                "No." Tala called back.

                "Well, shaddup and go to sleep, will ya?"

                "Fine then, Mr. Grumpy-pants."

                "Thank you."

                Tala and Kai both rolled their eyes at each other before Tala tossed him a spare pillow and blanket. Kai took them gratefully and dropped off moments later, still dressed in his day clothes.

  


* * *

[1] I'm not aware of how many volumes there are of Rurouni Kenshin, so let me use my imagination.


	3. The Taming of Kai Hiwatari

Not What You See

A/N: Hey! I just found my stuff from Natural Helpers last year. I'd forgotten what all the others had written. It was so uplifting. Not that I was feeling depressed or anything. I'm a very happy girl. But I found some poems I may use in here. I'll credit them appropriately in footnotes when they appear.

DISCLAIMER: I own only whom I own in this story, and that's well over a hundred (I actually have an entire family tree mapped out on my comp. Minus Tala, Kai, Rei, Max and Judy, I have… 141 people I own. In the Hiwatari-Toshiro-Kon-Mizuhara-Nanase line. That's not even including other people). So I feel quite… good.

**Chapter 3: The Taming of Kai Hiwatari**

                "Regine, why are we going to this again?" Kirk grumbled.

                "Because maybe these people will have some ideas on what to do with Kai."

                "Send him back!" Kirk whined. "These people have probably already _had him and sent him back. And are receiving therapy to recover from him."_

                "Kirk," Regine warned.

                "So YOU'RE the poor unfortunate souls who have Kai Hiwatari!" an elegant woman exclaimed. "Good luck."

                "My wife is hesitant to send him back," Kirk grumbled.

                "Do you have other children in your home?" a man asked.

                "Two more foster sons and two children of my own." Regine answered.

                "How old?"

                "Almost 15, 13, 8 and 5."

                "Send him back." A third woman advised. "He's a menace to society."

                "He pulled a knife on my seven-year-old son!" A fourth man added.

                "He was also beating up on my son."

                "All of us have had him at one point or another," the head of the group told Kirk and Regine. "I think the longest he's ever stayed in a home in Tokyo was…"

                "A month and a half, with me, a little less than two years ago." Marlon Oyamadi provided.

                "He lasted two days once about three years ago." A woman commented.

                "It's getting progressively harder for Stanley to find somebody willing to take him." another added. "You're probably the last stop. How long have you have the other two?"

                "We've had Max, our 13-year-old, for about ten years. Rei, our almost-15-year-old, has lived with us for about nine? Yeah, nine years." Regine answered.

                "Tell them to watch out." Marlon advised. "He's going to be pretty nasty to them."

                "It works pretty well if you just let him run his own show." Helen Oyamadi told them. "As long as he's not being hauled back by police at one in the morning,"

                "Already happened," Kirk muttered.

                "Or getting into trouble at school,"

                "Done."

                "Then forget that, you're in trouble."

                "Well, _that_ was enlightening!" Regine snarled as they were on their way home. "No wonder he's so messed up. And the fact they have nothing on his history is suspicious. Like some other city dumped him on Tokyo."

                "Probably went through all the homes there, too," Kirk muttered. Regine glared at him and he fell silent.

                In the end, Regine convinced Kirk to give Kai one more month. "Trust me on this one, Kirk. The last thing a foster kid who's been bounced around the system for three years wants to see is that he's being treated much different than any other kid. If he can see that we're just treating him exactly the same as the others, I'm sure he'll come around. It worked on me."

                So the month came and went, and though Kai was still apt to take off at odd nights, they became less and less frequent. He tested Kirk and Regine to the limits of their patience, constantly getting into trouble, both at school and at home. He didn't get carted off to the station anymore from school, but Kirk was halfway to sending him to juvenile hall after a near-violent encounter between Rei and Kai one afternoon. Max was pretty skittish around Kai, avoiding being alone with him whenever possible.

                Then, one afternoon in late November, the school bus never dropped Marina and Griff off from school. When Kirk called the school, they confirmed that they had been waiting at the designated pick-up spot outside the school at 3:45, five minutes before the bus arrived, but the school bus driver never recalled picking them up at the school.

                "All right. Regine, you and Max take the Rav and go search the neighbourhood. Rei, come with me in the van and we'll go down near the school. Kai, you know the city pretty well. You'll be all right on your own?"

                "Sure." Kai said.

                "Check other places where they might be. Take the cell phone, call the Rav phone or the van phone if you find them."

                Tala was stretched out on the couch, clearly ignoring the pile of pre-calculus in front of him, when his 12-year-old sister Melissa yelled, "TALA! PHONE!!"

                "GOT IT!" Tala howled back at her, picking up the living room extension. "Hey."

                "Tala?" Kai's voice came over the line. "Think you could spare a couple of hours out of your night and come help me?"

                "Now there are two words I never thought I'd hear you say. Sure. Where do you want me to meet you?"

                "Over at the corner of Heineken and Terries."

                "Be there in a couple of minutes."

                "So what's going on?" Tala asked as he appeared, warmly dressed in his new parka and hat and gloves. Kai was waiting at the corner, less warmly dressed than Tala in a sweatshirt, but what else was new?

                "Marina and Griff have disappeared," Kai said. "Kirk and Regine's kids," he clarified. "I have an idea of where they might be."

                "Down in the warehouse?" Tala guessed and dashed to catch up as Kai turned swiftly down another unmarked street.

                "Yep." Kai answered.

                The sounds of taunting teenage voices greeted the pair as they entered the abandoned warehouse, as well as the sounds of two young and terrified children.

                "Your parents let Chinee bastas in your house?" (A/N: I'll let you figure out what that means…) "How do we know you're not some little half-breed whelp?"

                Kai zipped into the room and before the gang member even realized he was there, had been thrown against the wall. Kai's fist hovered not far from the guy's face. "Got something else to say?"

                "Oh, well, if it isn't little Kai Hiwatari." The guy smirked before Kai punched his lights out.

                "Answer me. Got something else to say?" Kai growled. "Your little buddies are gone."

                It was true. The other guys, the moment Kai had entered, had beat it fairly quickly.

                The teen looked frightened for a second before shaking his head.

                "Good boy." Kai said, entirely too calmly. "You ever got something to say about my family, take it to me and I'll listen with my fist. Now beat it." He released the front of the guy's shirt and he scrambled to his feet and dashed out, yammering the whole way.

                Kai fished out the cell phone from his pocket serenely and dialed in the van. "Hi, Kirk. I found them."

                "My darlings, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Regine fussed over the returned children as Kirk, Rei, Kai, Marina and Griff all returned to the house, where she and Max had already been waiting anxiously. "Did they do frightful and unpleasant things to you?"

                Neither one answered, but Regine didn't seem to mind and ushered all five kids into the kitchen for some hot drinks.

                There was quite a shock in the Toshiro household not long after that.

                Rei's face had a look of sheer disgust on it. "You're _what?!"_

                Looking a bit stunned, Regine repeated. "I'm pregnant. Due sometime in mid-May."

                Rei shivered. "I really don't want to know when that happened."

                Once Marina and Griff had gotten the idea, they were thrilled, Max a little less, and Rei, once he got over his 'ewewewewewewewew' stage, was fine with it. During this whole spectacle, Kai had been standing apart from the group, a gnawing sensation of disappointment in his stomach.

_                "Why are you sending me back?" 9-year-old Kai asked plaintively as Stephen Kiyoshi set Kai's duffel bag in the trunk of the car._

_                "Because Julie and I are going to have a baby of our own now, so you can't stay."_

_                "Why am I going back again? I didn't do nothing." 10-year-old Kai whined._

_                "We're pregnant." Daniel and Alise Iei told him._

_                "Kai, with a new baby on the way, I just don't think we can keep you anymore." Kai was told on the day of his 11th birthday._

_                "I'm really sorry, Kai. You know I would do anything to keep you here with me. But with the baby on the way, I just can't afford to have Ted leave me in the loop." Rosalina Hoshizaki told 11-year-old Kai, a stray tear in her eye._

_                "I don't trust you in the same house as a newborn, Kai." Sebastian Hawita told 13-year-old Kai harshly._

                It figured. The first time since the Aarons in Grade 8, that he finds a home that might actually want him, they get pregnant. Which, in his experience over the past six years, always leads to him getting sent back. Even Rosalina had sent him back.

                'Check off home number 25 on the list.' Kai thought to himself. 'I'm going to be out of here in a week, tops.'__


	4. Breaking Down The Walls

Not What You See

A/N: Yes!!!! At long last, my French project/English character analysis/Math for the day/Science for the day/French phonic dictée is done!!! I can work on fics for a while!! Sure, I'm ignoring my French journal, which is really not the smartest thing to do, and my English stuff for Hound of the Baskervilles, which I think has got to be one of the most boring books on the planet, right up there by Of Mice and Men, which is what we just finished in English.

DISCLAIMER: I own only the other 140 people in Kai and Rei and Max and Tala's family.

POEM: _Masks_, author unknown, adapted from "Please Hear What I'm Not Saying" in Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul

**Chapter 4: Beating Down The Walls**

**Don't be fooled by the face I wear, for I wear a thousand masks,**

**And none of them are me.**

**Don't be fooled, please don't be fooled.**

                "Kai, pass me that ball there. No, not that ball, the one next to it."

                Rolling his eyes, Kai picked up the Christmas tree ball and handed it to Rei. "Rei, that ball was exactly the same as the other one."

                "I know," Rei said vaguely.

                The family was busy that early December morning, decorating the Christmas tree. Marina and Griff were in charge of setting up the little plush reindeer, elves and Santa, those being the only things that wouldn't break if they dropped them. Max was putting together the train set to go around the tree, Kirk and Regine were stringing the garlands and fake holly along the banisters and Rei and Kai were setting up the tree.

                "Griff, he doesn't go _there_!" Marina whined. "That's Vixen! You put him where Dancer is! _Rudolph and Dancer and Prancer and Donner and _VIXEN!" (A/N: I think?… I was never good at remembering the order… ^-^*)

                "What's the difference?" Griff wailed. "They all look the same!"

                "They're NOT!" Marina argued. "Mama, they're all different, right?"

                "I don't know, sweetheart. Are they?" Regine answered absently, flinching as Max accidentally made the train track fall apart with a _crack. "Max, be careful!"_

                "Santa never got his own reindeer straight," Rei finally told them. "Maybe Vixen should try being in front one year."

                "Oh, fine," Marina said huffily as Griff grinned at his brother and triumphantly placed the reindeer back where it was.

**I give you the impression that I'm secure, that confidence is my name and coolness is my **

**game,**

**And that I need no one. But don't believe me.**

                "How _does _the rhyme go again, Kai?" Rei asked under his breath.

                "Who knows." Kai answered. "I certainly don't. Never stayed in one place long enough to go through an entire Christmas season. No, wait, I was at Kiwanis for an entire Christmas season. Course, they were JW, so they didn't celebrate Christmas any way. Been in every kind of Christmas-season-celebrating home you can think of. State home never bothered with it. I lived with a family of Christian Canadians for a while before they got sent back on home assignment. I lived in a Japanese-Jewish home. _That _was interesting. I lived in a couple of atheist homes that decided Christmas was a hoax to empty your bank account. I lived in a couple of regular places that did the usual lights-tree-gifts round. Rest of them, I wasn't there for Christmas season any way, so I don't know about them."

                "Regine _loves_ the Christmas season," Max offered from below the two teens. "She goes _nuts_ if somebody tells her they don't celebrate Christmas. She says she never got the chance to have a fun Christmas when she was little, so she goes overboard every year now."

                Rei snickered. "You can say _that_ again. She actually started Christmas in October one year."

                Kai rolled his eyes.

                "Didn't you get Christmas presents any way?" Max said.

                "Didn't hold enough status to merit gifts." Kai answered indifferently. "Didn't really care, any way."

_                "What about Christmas?" one girl about eight years old whined._

_                "You don't get Christmas here." Derrek, one of the aids in the state home, told her. "You got a bed, a roof over your head, clothes, and food. What more do you ungrateful little waifs want?"_

_                12-year-old Kai watched silently from his spot in the rec room, protecting his sketchbook from the aid's greedy grip. That kid had better grow up soon. She was a ward of the Tokyo Child Welfare Service. None of them merited presents or special attention. He protected his nice, thick sketchpad, drawing pencils and colour pencils with his life. They were the only present he had ever gotten, ones that Rosalina had given to him the day before he had been taken back, in hopes of a peace offering._

**Beneath dwells the real me, a person scared to be vulnerable.**

**That's why I create a mask to hide behind, to shield me from the glance that knows,**

**But such a glance is precisely my salvation.**

                Regine was listening to the boys' conversation discreetly. She remembered being exactly like Kai: angry and shuttled around from foster home to foster home, trying to be accepted, but not knowing how; beneath the hard exterior, she knew, was a little boy who didn't want to be hurt again.

                Kai caught Regine looking over at him again, and tossed his head and turned back around, handing another ornament to Rei. He heard a tired sigh from Regine and knew she had once again relegated him and his taming to another time.

**That is, if it's followed by acceptance, if it's followed by love.**

**It's the only thing that can liberate me from my own self-built prison walls.**

**I'm afraid that deep down I'm not good enough,**

**And that you will reject me.**

                The phone rang at lunch and Kai, being the closest to the phone at the time, answered, despite Rei and Max both jumping at it.

                "It's Mariah calling with the time for the tournament!" Rei whined.

                "No! It's Tyson!" Max yelled.

                "C—can I speak to Kai?" an unsure voice asked tentatively. It was a male voice, probably over 18 but under 25.

                "Speaking," Kai answered suspiciously. Rei and Max both groaned and returned to their seats, flaming red at the cheeks. Kai stood up and left the kitchen. "Who is this?"

                "Kai, this is Roarke."

                Kai hung up.

                "Kai, who was that?" Kirk asked.

                "Wrong number." Kai answered.

                "Well ,obviously they wanted to speak to you. It wasn't a wrong number. Who was it?" Regine persisted.

                "Nobody." Kai answered.

                "Kai, who was it?"

                "_Nobody, now stop bugging me about it!" Kai exploded, storming out._

                "Toouchy." Rei muttered.

                _Roarke. He had the nerve to call him up after almost 6 years and expect to be buddy-buddy. Well, it wasn't going to be that easy!_

                Kai was pacing around his room, muttering under his breath. He finally picked up his sketchbook again and a pencil and took a seat in the window seat, flipping it open to a page where the picture was currently in progress.

                _No, Roarke had more of a chubby-bunny look to him, Kai reminisced as he fixed up some lines on a young teen's face in the far corner. The boy he was drawing had a round face with small eyes, fixed on some faraway place and a goofy smile on his face. __Camden was the one who looked like a gangster. Now, what about Blanche? Geez, I barely remember what she looked like. Well, not surprising, considering I was four last time I saw her. So I'll just kind of leave her face blurred. Sankarat can read into this however she wants. I don't care if this is supposed to be just an art project on family. This is my view on the world I grew up in: harsh, cold and rejecting._

**And so begins the parade of masks. I idly chatter to you.**

**I tell you everything that's really nothing**

**And nothing of what's everything, of what's crying within me.**

                "Kai?" A tentative voice came from the doorway. Kai looked up, shutting the book while doing so. Griff was standing in the doorway.

                "Yeah?" Kai answered.

                "Why're you mad at Mommy?" Griff asked, advancing into the room and clambering up on the window seat by Kai.

                "I'm not really mad, I'm just tired." Kai lied through his teeth to the little boy. "Are you done your lunch?"

                "No, but Daddy told me to come up and tell you to come finish your lunch. And Mommy says that you can trust us."

                "Oh. All right." Kai said, setting the sketchbook back in his duffel bag.

                "Kai, what was that all about?" Kirk asked as Kai reentered and calmly took his place at the table again, Griff clambering onto the bench by Max.

                "Nothing." Kai answered. "I'm just a little on edge."

                "So who was on the phone?" Rei asked from beside Kai.

                "Rei, I think he's told us he doesn't want to say," Max told him from across the table.

                "It was my brother," Kai answered, voice void of all emotion.

                "Brother?" Rei asked.

                "Brother?" Max echoed.

                "Brother. Got a problem with it?" Kai snapped.

                "No," they both replied quickly.

                "Just never heard you say anything about a brother before, that's all." Rei mumbled.

                "Yeah, well, there's a reason for that," Kai said simply and returned to his meal.

_                "Roarke, don't leave us here!" 9-year-old Kai pleaded, tugging at his 15-year-old brother's sleeve. "Roarke, stay here with us!"_

_                "Get off me, Kai," Roarke snapped. "I have a job, far from this place and I don't intend to come back ever. So get over it!" He took off down the road to where the black car was idling, hopped in and left._

                Kai shivered slightly and returned to the present time. Just then, the phone rang _again._

                "If it's Roarke, hang up," Kai advised. "He'll get the message eventually."

                Kirk picked up the phone. "Hello, Kirk speaking. Oh, hello, Stanley. What makes you call this fine holiday season?" He listened for a moment, then his expression turned stony. "Are you sure? Stanley, I really don't think this is a good idea. Don't tell me you're just doing your— oh. Oh. Well, yes, I'll tell him. It'll still be his choice, though, right? There's no forcing him if he doesn't want to? All right. Bye, Stanley. What? All right, what is it? What is that supposed to mean? Oh. That's not good. Stanley, _this_ is not a good idea. _What_? Stanley, that's ridiculous. Since when have you people been in the business of moving kids from city to city without prior notice? If he's in the Tokyo end, then he's supposed to be. He's not? Well, where's he supposed to be then? _Nagasaki?? Stanley, that's clear on the other coast! Are you sure you can't just talk them into letting him stay here? He absolutely _has_ to go back? There's no question about it? I'm warning you, Stanley, this isn't good. Well, yes, I'll tell him, but I don't think he's going to be too pleased." Kirk hung up and stood up. "Rei, Kai, can I talk to you two for a moment?"_

                Kai had gotten the last part of the conversation: Nagasaki CWS had finally tracked him down to Tokyo and he was supposed to go back. Probably back to Kurasu. Geez, he didn't want to go back.

**Please listen carefully and try to hear more than my words.**

**I'd really like to be genuine and spontaneous, and me.**

**But you've got to help me. You've got to hold out your hand.**

                "Don't even bother telling me," Kai said the moment they stepped into the rec room. "Nagasaki's tracked me down and demands me back to the custody of my mother and her husband. Correct?"

                "Right." Kirk admitted.

                "When?"

                "The 19th."

                "Wonderful." Kai muttered, stalking out of the room.

                "Told Stanley it wasn't a good idea." Kirk grumbled, before returning his attention to Rei. "Rei, Stanley just called. He's said that Lian's called him."

                Rei's face blanched. "What does she want?"

                "She says that Nami's going to be getting married in a couple of weeks and she wants to take you out for the Christmas season to Nakoemi for the wedding."

                "Do I get a choice in the matter?" Rei asked softly.

                "Not really." Kirk admitted. "It was more a matter of 'go willingly or be dragged along'."

                Rei sighed. "So I have to go."

                "Yeah."

                "Wonderful." Rei muttered and left the room silently.

                Kirk groaned and returned to the kitchen to try and explain the situation to the rest of the family.

                "But I don't _want_ them to go! They hafta stay _here_!!"

Both Rei and Kai heard Marina's crying from their respective bedrooms. Rei had angrily thrown himself on his bed and was beating his pillow in frustration, while Kai had grabbed his sketch book and pencil and was continuing the work on his family drawing, etching in his stepfather's jeering face with angry, swift strokes of the pencil.

"Daddy, they _can't go!!!" Griff wailed. "Mommy, make them stay here!!!"_

_Pictures don't do the ******* _justice,_ Kai thought venomously. _No matter how hard I try, he'll always be worse in real life.__

**Each time you're kind and gentle, and encouraging,**

**Each time you try to understand because you really care,**

**My heart begins to grow wings.**

                "Boys, come back down now, please," Regine called. "You haven't finished your dinners."

                Silence greeted her from the second story.

                Regine sighed and climbed up the stairs. "Rei, Kai, come out of your rooms _now. I know you're upset, but we can't do anything about it right now. Get out here and act your age."_

                "You're going to turn me into a frigging nutcase!" Rei yelled as he stormed out. "I can't just keep being whipped back and forth!"

                "Rei, watch your language!" Regine snapped. "Kai! Get out here!"

                There was no answer from Kai's room, and when Regine opened the door, she found the room void of occupants, as well as Kai's duffel bag.

                "Oh, not again."

                Tala was surprised when he found Kai sitting on his bedroom floor after he returned from being dragged along to Melissa's skating lesson. "Oh, hi… what's going on?"

                "What's going on?" Kai laughed dryly. "What's going on is only that my life is unraveling again. It figures. Thought I might actually get left alone if I left Nagasaki. Guess not."

                "What happened?" Tala asked, flopping onto his bed.

                "Nagasaki told Dickinson that I'm not supposed to be in Tokyo and now they're dragging me back to Nagasaki so I can go get the **** beaten out of me again."

                "What did Kirk and Regine say?"

                "Nothing." Kai snapped. "That's just it. They didn't say anything. No exultations, no 'Can't we get him to leave sooner?', no 'Too bad it's not juvenile hall', just… nothing!"

                "Did it ever occur to you that they might actually want you to stay with him?" Tala asked.

"Yeah, well, I've learnt my lesson on that subject, many times." Kai muttered. "Nobody wants me. My own mother didn't even consider me important enough to fight for. My father and stepfather both despised me. My sisters and brothers abandoned us as soon as they hit 14. My family's really messed up, Tala. Be glad you have such a Normalson-type family."

"Right." Tala said. "Well maybe your stepfather's actually changed. Maybe your mother's finally left him."

"Maybe the world will turn purple and everybody will go around singing 'Supercalafragilisticexpialadocious'." Kai said mockingly.

"That would be funny," Tala said blandly.

"As is the idea of Kurasu being even halfway decent and my mother being her own person." Kai grumbled.

"Well, think about this for a second. How long have you been living with the Toshiros?"

"Since the 29th of October." Kai answered.

"And it's the 10th of December." Tala added. "So you've been in this home—"

"Exactly as long as I've been in three-quarters of the rest of my homes." Kai cut him off. "There's nothing much different about this home."

"Except in the fact these guys don't have a grudge against you." Tala reminded him. "They were probably going to let you stay with them."

"So?" Kai answered. "Same with Rosalina and the Aarons. Got sent back from both of them, didn't I?"

"Kai, I can't argue against Rosalina. But it wasn't the Aarons' fault they got sent back on home assignment and couldn't take you with them. Immigration would have given them a nasty time, plus Dickinson wouldn't have let them any way." Tala said calmly. "And you've gotten attached to the Toshiros. Don't even bother denying it. I saw how you protected those little guys."

"Tala, you were quivering in terror behind a wall," Kai told him.

"I still saw and heard everything." Tala mumbled, flushing.

**With your sensitivity and sympathy, and your power of understanding,**

**You can release me from my shallow world of uncertainty.**

                "Oh, hey, Kai," 18-year-old Nicholas greeted as he went past the door to Tala's room. "Moving in here, or something?"

                "I may do so yet," Kai muttered.

                "Oh, come on, Kai," Tala snorted. "You'll head back in a couple of days because you feel guilty about making Kirk and Regine worry."

                "Do not," Kai mumbled.

                "Do me a favour," Tala's father called from downstairs. "Call your foster parents this time?"

                "You're where?" Rei asked dubiously. "All right. I'll tell them. Regine's ready to fly off the handle, I warn you."

                "Rei, is that Kai?" Kirk asked as he entered the kitchen. "Give me the dang phone. Kai, where are you? Where the heck is that? How in the world did you get over there?"

                "I walked." Kai answered.

                "Uh-huh." Kirk muttered. "Where's the exact address?  I want you back here _now_."

                "I'm not telling you," Kai said indignantly. "I'll come back eventually, preferably after I'm supposed to leave for Nagasaki."

                "Kai, don't argue with me on this one," Kirk snapped. "Give me the address _now_ and when we get back home, you're grounded."

**It will not be easy for you. The nearer you approach me,**

**The blinder I may strike back.**

**But I'm told that Love is stronger than strong walls,**

**And in this lies my only hope.**

                Regine was listening from the living room. They had tried to let Kai adjust by leaving him alone. They had tried to treat him the same as the other boys. They had tried treating him with a little more gentleness. Now it was time for tough love. This boy had been living on his own terms for far too long: he had no respect whatsoever for authority.

                "Kai!" Kirk snapped again. "You're on strike three."

                "Does it really matter?" Kai said cynically. "I'm leaving in a week."

                "The address, Kai."

                "I told you, I'll come back when I'm good and ready. I got along perfectly fine for fifteen years without you and your rules, and I'm fine on my own now."

                "That might be true, Kai, but you're still our responsibility," Kirk sighed, rubbings his temples. "Now I'm going to ask you one last time. What's the address?"

                Click. Kai hung up and Kirk threw the receiver back down on the holder. "Oh! I've had it with that boy!" he growled. "He's so difficult!"

                He reentered the living room, where Regine was stretched out on the couch. "Where's everybody else?"

                "Griff went over to Ryan's house for a while, Marina's over at Sarah's place, Max went to Tyson's and Rei's at Li's." Regine answered dully, eyes closed and cold pack over her eyes. "Try *69."

                "Good idea." Kirk muttered. "I'll give it a while, so I hope I get one of the people who live wherever it is Kai's at."

**Please try to beat down these walls with firm but gentle hands.**

                Half an hour, the phone rang at the Nanase house and Tala's mother got there before anybody else could've heard it. "Hello, Nanase household. Sorry, who is this? Oh, hello. Well, yes, Kai's still here. 3131 William Ave."

                Kirk arrived at the house on the sly about half an hour later. Tala's father opened the door and invited him in.

                "We don't mind," she assured Kirk when he apologized for Kai's inconveniencing their family. "He's been coming here for years. We've grown quite attached to him. Haven't been seeing very much of his for the past week or two, though. It must've been doing him some good, living with you."

                "Yeah, well, Stanley's undone all that." Kirk muttered under his breath. He looked up as Kai and Tala both descended the staircase. Kai stopped dead at the sight of Kirk and looked fully ready to bolt, but he evidently realized he wouldn't be able to get away and sullenly left with Kirk.

                "Kai, I don't believe you anymore." Kirk admonished on the drive home, Kai sulking in the passenger seat. "I thought you were coming around. Where would you have gone if the Nanases hadn't let you stay with them all those times? Hmm? What then?"

                Kai didn't answer, glaring out the window.

                "Kai, answer me." Kirk ordered. When Kai still didn't answer, Kirk pulled the Rav over to the side of the road. Kai finally made eye contact with Kirk, a questioning and apprehensive look in his eyes.

                Kai's heart had stopped when Kirk pulled over. His heart was telling him that this guy wasn't like the other guys, he wouldn't be abandoning him on the side of the road; his brain was still having trouble wrapping itself around that concept.

                "Kai, until I get some straight answers out of you, we are not moving another inch." Kirk finally said, putting the Rav into park, sitting back in his seat and crossing his arms across his chest. "We've got all week, if that's how long it takes. I'll warn you now, though, I don't like the prospect of staying out here all week."

                There was a long silence in the Rav. Kirk finally broke it, saying, "Now what's _really_ going on? It's more than just me dragging you back from the Nanases."

                Kai still didn't answer.

                This silence went on for about four hours, until Kai realized that Kirk was really going to go through with this. He wasn't joking when he said that they could, and would, stay out on the side of the road until the day he went back.

                "Kai," Kirk finally spoke again.

                "What?" Kai muttered.

                "This has something to do with what's been going on this last week, doesn't it?" Kirk asked.

                There was silence for a moment before Kai, at last, after fifteen long years of hardship, anguish and uncertainty; finally broke down.

**Who am I, you may wonder.**

**I am every man you meet, and also every woman that you meet,**

**And I am you, as well.**


	5. Kai and Saadii

Not What You See

A/N:  *rolls eyes at discussion by friends of plans for trick-or-treating* Oh! And in the fic, Kai doesn't have those cool stripes on his face. Guess if you want a pronunciation guide to the world of NWYS, here it is, present and future characters with unusual names!

**Regine:** Reh-jean****

**Saadii: **SAY-dee****

**Blanche: **Bl-ahn-shay****

**Gemma:** Jem-AH****

**Roarke: **Roar-keh****

**Sebastien: **Seh-bas-tee-ehn****

**Larysa: **La-REE-sah****

DISCLAIMER: I own… well, a lot of people in this fic, at least! ^.^

**Chapter 5: Saadii and Kai**

_Thursday, January 30, 2003 _

_About a month and a half after Kai's return to Nagasaki, and a month and three weeks after Rei's trip to Nakoemi_

                "Oh, thank goodness, Rei, you're back, I was so worried about you!" Regine gushed, throwing her arms around her foster son. "Are you sure you're all right? Come into the kitchen and have something to eat, you must be starving."

                "No, really, Regine, I'm fine." Rei said unconvincingly.

                "You need to eat," Regine insisted. "Get into the kitchen and sit down at the table _now."  
  
_

                "Rei!" the three younger children all yelled happily. "You're back!"

"Yeah," Rei said vaguely, eagerly digging into the sandwiches on the plate in front of him.

                While the four kids were busy talking and stuffing their faces, the phone rang. Kirk grabbed it before anybody had the chance to get up from his or her seat. "Hello?"

                "Is this Kirk Toshiro I'm speaking to?" a quiet, trembling voice came over the line.

                "Yes, who is this?" Kirk asked suspiciously. He wouldn't put it past Lian to get one of Rei's other sisters to fake a terrified voice begging them to let her make sure Rei was all right in person and then go and take him again.

                "I'm sorry, sir, I don't believe you would know me, but you do know my brother. Kai Hiwatari?"

                "What are you talking about?" Kirk asked immediately, and a little too harshly, it seemed, because there was frightened silence on the other end of the line and the kitchen fell silent. "Sorry."

                "Oh, no, it's all right, sir. I don't think Kai would've told you about me any way, judging by what seems to be his current behaviour. My name is Saadii, I'm his twin sister."

                "Oh, right," Kirk said, vaguely recalling Kai saying something about a twin that afternoon in the Rav, what seemed like a thousand years ago. "I do remember him saying something about a twin, didn't realize it was _his twin. What's the matter?"_

                "Well, sir, this is the part that's difficult to explain."

                "Try to."

                "Well, sir, we both decided we'd had enough of our stepfather and left, but we had to split up. Kai told me to phone you when I reached Tokyo." She answered hesitantly.

                "Okay, where are you? And where is Kai?"

                "I don't know where Kai is." Saadii said regretfully. "Like I said, we split up not far from Subaru. I'm at Tokyo Civic."

                "What's wrong?"

                "It appears I am in the beginning phase of hypothermia. No doubt because I have just spent about ten hours outdoors in only jeans and a sweatshirt."

                "How can you sound so calm?"

                "I believe I'm in shock."

                "All right, that sounds reasonable. Do you want me to come down there and bring you back here while they keep looking for Kai?"

                "I would appreciate it, yes. But you don't have to."

                "Ten minutes sound okay?"

                "Very well."

                Kirk hung to find all his family watching him suspiciously. "_What?"_

                "Who was that?" Regine asked.

                Kirk hesitated only the slightest moment before answering, "Kai's sister. She said that they both left their stepfather's place but she doesn't know where Kai is, he could be anywhere between Nagasaki and the North Pole. Well, maybe not the North Pole, but you get what I mean. Apparently Kai told her to phone us when she reached Tokyo."

                "And how, pray tell, did she get to Tokyo from Nagasaki?"

                "Subaru." Kirk said absently, retrieving his coat from the closet. "Probably hitchhiked."

                Kirk pulled up to the parking lot of Tokyo Civic Hospital and entered the waiting room of Emergency to see a teenage girl wrapped up in blankets and having hot drinks forced upon her by nurses. At her feet was the smallest duffel bag you would ever see.

                When she looked up, Kirk could tell immediately that she and Kai were twins. If it wasn't for one slight difference, the little genetic thing called 'gender', she could pass for Kai with different styled hair. Rather than the navy blue hair cut short in the back, and spiked and bleached in the front, hers was bleached in streaks all around her head and was currently falling down around her face. It was probably about waist-length and didn't look as though it had had a proper washing in a while. When she looked up, Kirk noticed the same crimson eyes as Kai, with the same world-weary, mistrusting look in them, only right now it was replaced by full-blown panic.

                "Are you Kirk Toshiro?" a nurse asked, standing up. Her nametag read _Ernestine._

                "Yes." Kirk answered.

                "Could we see some ID?" She examined Kirk's driver's license and then said, "Can you come with me for a moment, please? Keep giving her drinks, Nancie. Don't let her talk you out of it."

                "Mr. Toshiro, I have some serious concerns about this girl's home life and the safety of her brother." The resident said.

                "Hear, hear." Kirk muttered.

                "Have you heard anything from her brother? She has been adamant that we find him as soon as possible."

                "Not yet." Kirk said. Just as he was finishing that sentence, his cell phone rang. "Sorry, one moment. Hello?"

                "Hey, um, Kirk?" Rei's voice came over the phone. There some kind of commotion in the background: from what Kirk could distinguish was Regine's voice fretting over someone, Marina and Griff talking over one another and Max was either not doing anything or wasn't in the room.

                "What is it, Rei? What's going on back there?"

                "Kai just showed up on the doorstep."

                "Can I change my answer to that last question?" Kirk asked, covering the receiver with his hand. "He's just shown up on the doorstep at home."

                "How is he?" Saadii's frantic voice came from the doorway. "Can I talk to him?"

                "Rei, how is he? Can he come to the phone?"

                "I don't know. _Man_, he's bleeding all over the place and shivering like a wet dog in January. Geez, Kai, what'd you do to yourself?"

                "Hold… semi… ground…" Kai's voice came faintly. "Stop… fine…"

                "Rrrright." Rei said. "Um, I don't know. Why?"

                "His sister wants to talk with him."

                "Yeah, I don't think he has conversing capability right now."

                "I can hear that. What's happened?"

                "Like he said, something about a hold, a semi, the ground."

                "Somehow I don't think he got run over by a semi if he's still conscious."

                "Yeah, that's what I think. He _does _got a nasty cut on the back of his head, though. Max had to leave the room."

                "I'm not surprised." Kirk sighed. "Hold on a second. Hey, Doctor, what should they be doing? He's got a cut on the back of his head from what I can tell."

                "How's his speech right now? Is he fluent, is he sort of dazed and confused, not really articulate?"

                "From what I can hear, can't really form complete sentences at the moment. Insists he's fine. Rei says he's shivering really hard though."

                "How's his balance?"

                "Rei, how's his balance?"

                "How should I know, Regine forced him to sit down. Walking pretty unevenly when he came in, though."

                "Off-balance."

                "Ask him to make a fist." Doctor Yamaguchi ordered. "Actually, give me the phone."

                Kirk handed it over.

                "Okay, this is Doctor Yamaguchi. I want you to listen to my instructions carefully, all right? Give the phone to…" he stopped for a moment. "Who just got brought in?"

                "Kai."

                "Give the phone to Kai. If he can't hold the phone properly on his own, don't force his fingers around it, just hold it for him. I need to hear him speak myself." He waited a moment, then started speaking in a calm voice. "Kai, can you hear me? All right, Kai, are you holding the phone yourself? I need to know the truth. All right. Kai, how are you feeling right now? Thanks. What happened to your head, Kai? What are you doing about the cut, Kai? All right, good. Can someone else take over holding that and get Regine to get on the phone." He waited another moment while the shuffle took place. "Mrs. Toshiro? This is Doctor Yamaguchi. What's the situation like over there right now? How are the other kids reacting? All right, maybe get the little guys out of there. As long the older guy stays calm, it's fine for him to stay. You may need him to help you any way. What I want you to do is get something clean to use as a bandage. Where is the cut exactly? Thank you. Keep the bandage on the cut and get something else to go around his head to keep it in place. Take a look at his face and tell me how it looks. Don't skip out any details, even little ones… all right. Oh great combination." He growled slightly in frustration. Then he sighed. "Is the laceration firmly bandaged? All right. Get him to lie down on the ground. Don't put anything underneath his head, get a blanket or something warm to put over top of him. I'm going to need to send somebody out there to see if he should be brought in." He hung up, handed the phone back to Kirk and growled, "I _hate_ doing prognosis over the phone."

                "Doctor, if you don't mind, the next shift starts in two minutes and if you were able, could you possibly drop by?" Ernestine asked, shoving another hot drink into Saadii's hand.

                "Oh, sure." he agreed. "Mr. Toshiro, do you mind if I trail you back to your house?"

                "No problem," Kirk assured him. "We don't live all that far from here."

                Kirk entered the house with Saadii and Dr. Yamaguchi behind him to find Max curled up in the armchair in the living room, looking green. Sending a reassuring smile to his fellow weak-stomached son, he directed Dr. Yamaguchi to the kitchen, then suggested to Saadii that she stay out here.

                It obviously piqued her, because she snapped that she wanted to stay with her brother and stormed into the kitchen behind the doctor. Kirk, being just as weak-stomached as Max, joined him in the living room.

                Regine and Rei both exited the room about five minutes after that, informing that the doctor was going to put stitches in Kai's head.

                About half an hour later, the doctor reemerged, carrying his medical bag and both Kai and Saadii following him. "All right. I want you two to change out of those wet clothes pronto and keep a _warm_ blanket around you. Saadii, you can stop having those drinks now, but Kai, I want you to have plenty of hot drinks. Not coffee, not alcohol. Be sure to be careful around that area of your head for a while, get someone to clean it for you daily and come in and see me in about two weeks. Come tomorrow, you should stop feeling quite so cold, both of you." He turned to Kirk and Regine and added, "And do try to get the story of how this came around out of them. I'd particularly like to know the story behind the semi."

                "T-t-t-t-told… y-y-y-y-you…" Kai muttered through chattering teeth. "… h-h-h-hold… s-s-s-s-semi… g-g-g-g-ground…"

                "Yeah, I got that part." Yamaguchi told him, smiling slightly. "It's the rest of it I want to know."

                After the doctor had left, Regine ushered all three older teens back into the kitchen and Max back up to bed. All the blood that had been spilt had been cleaned up, and Regine then plunked down a HUGE cup of hot milk in front of Kai, who glared at her halfheartedly, then shook his head. Upon being giving the evil eye by both Regine and Saadii, he reluctantly (and with difficulty) picked it up and drank a bit. This satisfied the both of them.

                "Kirk, can you call Stanley?" Regine asked after a moment of utter silence in the kitchen. Kai's head snapped up. "Just to let him know that you came here on your own, so we don't get accused of kidnapping you. Keep drinking."

                Kai eyed the both of them warily but obeyed.

                Stanley told them that Nagasaki hadn't said anything about them leaving, but if they were really that adamant about not going back, he would contact Nagasaki and have them go get the stuff they had left out there.

                Saadii nodded emphatically. Kai would've done as much, but the bandage and painful stitches in the back of his head were inhibiting too much movement in that area.

                After a while, Regine ordered both Rei and Saadii up to bed, Saadii being put in Kai's room for the moment. It wouldn't kill Rei and Kai to share a room for a while, at least until they got to move into the new house in a couple of weeks.

                "Not until you finish up at least three more drinks, Kai." Regine told him, sticking another cup in front of him. Kai growled under his breath. "The story can wait until tomorrow."

                "Is it all right if I take a shower before I go to bed?" Saadii asked uncertainly.

                "Oh, sure, dear." Regine told her. "Go right ahead. Rei, go get some of the flannel sheets and blankets from the linen closet. Put two blankets in Kai's room for Saadii and bring the sheets, a blanket and two extra blankets into your room for Kai. Kirk will bring up the spare mattress in a moment."

                The three left the kitchen and Regine took a seat again across the table from Kai, who was still grumbling about having all these hot drinks, a lot more than he was used to. "Don't complain, Kai. Just drink."

_The next morning_

                "Why aren't you and Daddy at work, Mommy?" Griff asked curiously at breakfast.

                "We decided to stay home today." Regine told him, setting down a plate of eggs on the table in front of him. "Eat up, your bus comes in fifteen minutes. Marina, darling, leave Driger alone."

                Grumbling, Marina released Rei's cat and took a seat at the table.

                Rei and Max both came tearing down the stairs at that morning. "Sorry I overslept!" they both gasped out, flinging themselves into chairs and fighting over the last piece of toast.

                "Rei, give it to Max. You're not going to school today." Regine sighed. "You can have some toast later. Tell me you didn't wake Kai up."

                "Nope!" Rei responded. "Why aren't I going to school today?"

                "Because Stanley is going to be here shortly to talk to you and Kai and Saadii.  If either one is awake by then. Do me a favour, though, and call Li and Mariah before they leave for school. Neither one has stopped calling for the past month and a half."

                "I'm awake," Saadii's much-more-cheery voice came as she came down the stairs, dressed in what looked like Kai's clothes. She had brushed out her hair and braided it for the moment. "Now who's this Stanley character again?"

                "Well, aren't we Miss Sunshine today." Rei told her, while dialing in Li's number.

                "Hey, I'm in one piece, I'm far from Subaru, I'm clean, I'm dry and I'm warm. What's not to be happy about?" Saadii asked, entering the kitchen.

                True to her word, her cheeks had lost the frozen look, but were still rosy, her eyes sparkled with a renewed spirit. Her hands were tucked inside her sleeves, but otherwise, she looked perfectly fine.

                "That's Mr. Dickinson to you," Kirk told her. "He's the social worker for this family."

                "Really." Saadii said, her eyes suddenly losing their sparkle.

                "Don't worry about it," Rei said, hanging up after assuring Li he was indeed in one piece. "Mr. Dickinson? He'll probably just say it's too much trouble to bother sending you guys back." He picked up the receiver again and dialed in Mariah's number. "Hey, Mariah? It's Rei. Yikes! Mariah, stop screeching! Don't worry about me, I'm back! I'm fine! No, I'm not going to school today, Mr. Dickinson wants to talk to me. Yes, I'll be at school tomorrow. Mariah, Mariah, stop crying, for heaven's sake! It's not like this is the first time it's happened!"

                "Somebody call me?" Kai yawned, coming downstairs, still dressed in the pajamas he borrowed from Rei last night. They didn't _quite _fit him: Rei was built a littler more delicately than Kai. But they were fine. "Oh, and the bus is here."

                "Oh, man! Marina, Griff, gogogogogogogogo!" Regine groaned, ushering her two youngest out the door. "Max, you have to leave soon."

                "Already on it, Regine." Max said, popping the last bite in his mouth and jumping off the bench and grabbing his schoolbag and lunch from the counter. "See you this afternoon."

                The doorbell rang about half a second after Max left and Kirk dashed for the front door, opening it to reveal not only Mr. Dickinson but a woman as well. She had almost white-blonde hair, a lightly tanned complexion and clear blue eyes.

                "Kirk, can I speak to you out here for a moment?" Stanley asked softly.

                "Sure," Kirk answered, frowning.

                "This is Blanche Amiko, from the Sapporo Child Welfare Services."

                "Oh, _now_ you're going to tell me _Sapporo's actually where Kai and Saadii are supposed to be?" Kirk asked, sarcasm dripping from every syllable._

                "Actually, no." Stanley responded. "Blanche's maiden name is Hiwatari. She's their oldest sister."

                Kirk was stopped dead in his tracks.

                "_What are they discussing out there?" Regine sighed, standing up and leaving the three teens in the kitchen._

                "Kirk, what's going on out there?" Regine asked, poking her head out the door. "You can't discuss this _inside_?"

                "Not really." Kirk told her.

                "Who's this?" Regine asked.

                "This is Kai and Saadii's sister, Blanche." Stanley responded.

                "Well, discuss whatever it is you're so deep in conversation about inside." Regine said, clearly ignoring Stanley's comment and its implied meaning: _Don't get attached to them, she's taking them back with her._

                Kai and Saadii both paled when Blanche entered the room.

                "No." Kai said immediately, standing up and stalking out. There was a slight silence as the adults and Rei were stunned, and Saadii looked at Blanche with a betrayed look in her eyes for a moment longer before following her brother.

                "Well, that was a quick answer." Stanley muttered. "We'll go back to them later. Now, Rei, what was your complaint again?"  
                "Take a wild guess," Rei said, sounding scarily similar to Kirk with the sarcasm in every syllable.

                "You claim Lian tried to kidnap you again." Stanley sighed.

                "She _did_!" Rei snapped. "I was supposed in Nakoemi for _one week_! I just got back here yesterday evening!"

                "Kai, Saadii, come down here, please." Regine called. "Rei, why don't you go back upstairs for the moment?"

                "All right." Rei acquiesced and loped upstairs, passing the twins on their way down. He knew in his case that Mr. Dickinson would decide that nothing could be done as of yet and that Lian would lay off for a while and then send Nami or Neko out here to tie him up and drag him back.

                "Absolutely not!" Kai argued as he winced slightly. Regine had pulled the bandage off from the back of his head and cleaned out the wound while he was angrily discussing the proposed (or rather, forced) course of action with Mr. Dickinson.

                "Kai, this your _sister_ we're talking about here." Stanley sighed.

                "Yeah, well, where was she when Kurasu killed Father? How about when Kurasu made the rest of them run off? When he killed Anna?" Saadii burst out suddenly, and venomously.

                Blanche now looked completely lost. "_What_?"

                "You appear lost, Mrs. Amiko." Regine said softly.

                "'Course she's lost," Kai scoffed, inhaling sharply as the antiseptic seeped into the stitches. "She was gone before any of that happened."

                "Who in the world is Kurasu? Who the heck is Anna? What are we talking about now?" Blanche asked bewilderedly. "And what in the world happened to your head, Kai?"

                "Actually, I'd like to know that, too," the rest of the room chorused.

                "I tried to hitch a ride back to Tokyo on the back of a semi, but I didn't get a good enough hold and fell onto the ground." Kai muttered.

                "Ah, so that's what the whole hold-semi-ground thing was." Kirk said.

                "Mm-hm." Kai said, glaring briefly at Regine when she patted the bandage back down on his stitches.

                "I'm confused." Blanche muttered. "Somebody shed some light on this matter for me?"

                Between Kai and Saadii, the generalized story came out.

                Shortly after Blanche had left when they were 4, a new farm hand had arrived at their place: Sebastien Kurasu. He was a nice enough guy, a bit of a temper, but nice. Anna was the youngest Hiwatari, born about two years after Blanche's departure. Then Kurasu had killed Wade, their father, in order to marry Larysa, their mother, about three months after Wade's death. After that, it all went downhill. Gemma, the second Hiwatari child, left about a year after that, Roarke barely two years after her and Camden about a month after him. About two weeks after Camden's departure, Kurasu had killed Anna in a moment of rage and Kai and Saadii had been removed from the house and sent into the foster care system in Nagasaki. Kurasu's daughter with Larysa, Natalie, hadn't been removed.

                "And it's all move after move after that." Kai finished. "At least for me."

                There was a bit of a stunned silence as they mulled it over. Finally, after a few more hours of arguments between the twins and Blanche, they managed to convince her that they had no intention of leaving with a sister who considered her own safety a higher priority than her siblings.

                The other three children returned from school not long after that and for the first time in a month and three weeks, Regine truly felt like nobody was missing from this scene.

                Rei and Max had gotten into another one of their silly tiffs about who was the better manga character: Kenshin or Naruto. Marina and Griff were discussing some reptile guy who had come to the elementary school today and how one of his snakes got loose in the gym. Kai and Saadii were conversing about something that wasn't quite understandable.

                "But Naruto's a _nine-tailed fox_!" Max protested.

                "Kenshin's realistic!"

                "Naruto's normal!"

                "So's Kenshin!"

                "Did you see that big snake? It crawled up Mrs. Tachigawi's leg! She was screaming so loud!"

                "Tiffanie Nyoku had to be carried out of the gym 'cause she fainted!"

                'Yep. This is more like it.' Regine told herself in satisfaction.


	6. New House, New Family, New Life

Not What You See

A/N: Wowie! Now that I've got three-four-five-six page chapters, I'm on a roll! And I've decided that I will make a sequel to this! The story's not done yet, but it'll have a sequel any way! And I gave myself nightmares thinking of this sequel, so be warned now.

DISCLAIMER: I own only whom I own.

**Chapter 6: New Family, New House, New Life**

_February 12, 2003_

                "Oy! Max! That's my box!"

                "Whaddaya mean, your box! This is my box!"

                "Look inside it, moron! It has my stuff in it! And my name on it!"

                "Then where's my box??"

                "I don't know! With all due luck, Starr has it!"  
  


                This little conversation was quite common between Rei and Max at the moment. With the addition of three new, and hopefully the last three, foster children: 15-year-old Leif Kinomita, his 4-year-old sister Starr and 15-month-old brother Jesse; the move to the new house for the Toshiros proved to be a challenge. Moving the belongings of two adults, four 15-year-olds, a 13-year-old, an 8-year-old, a 5-year-old, a 4-year-old and 15-month-old, along with the baby supplies, which now had to be accommodating for twins; is not the easiest task to do.

                "Hey, Kai, have you seen my box with all my books in it?" Saadii called, hauling another box with her belongings down to her bedroom in the basement.

                Kai shook his head, heading upstairs to the second story and kicking open the door where he and Rei had to be sharing a room. He spotted the bed by the window seat and immediately claimed that one. He dropped the box on the bed that the movers had kindly placed there already.

                "Hey, I wanted that bed!" Rei whined, entering the room with a boxload of stuff.

                "You snooze, you lose." Kai said serenely, leaving the room.

                "Rei! You have my box!" Max yelled from across the hall.

                It seemed like the boxes would never end. Well, when you have to move eleven people and two semi-formed people across the city, it would add to quite a number of boxes.

                By the time dinner came around, with the… help… of the movers, who had no clue whatsoever which rooms were whose and who was who; the boxes had all been put into random rooms.

                Kirk laughed weakly as the pizza guy showed up. Of course he showed up just as Leif and Kai's similar personalities rubbed each other the wrong way again and Saadii was trying to break up the argument before it got physical, Rei and Max were involved in another stupid argument, the younger kids were whining about hunger, and Regine had long since gone to go take a nap. "Thanks."

                "Yeah." The pizza guy said, handing him the pizza and leaving rather quickly. Once the door had been shut, Kirk admonished,

                "Kai, Leif, break it up. Rei, Max, grow up. The rest of you, quiet down, the pizza's here." The room fell silent and Kirk gestured to the table. Still sullenly, the kids sat down.

                Kirk cringed when he saw the time. "All right, anybody under the age of ten, it's bedtime."

                "But Daddy!" Marina and Griff whined as one. Starr whined her agreement. Jesse was still too young to whine, thank goodness. Relentless, Kirk ushered them all upstairs, then five seconds later:

                "Somebody tell me what idiot put Saadii's books in Griff and Jesse's bedroom!"

                "My books!" Saadii yelped, dashing upstairs. "You found them!"

                "And any guy over the age of fifteen come tell me why the entirety of their clothes are in the girls' bedroom!"

                "That would be mine!" Leif called. 

                "They might be mine!" Kai called.

                "Then get up here and tell whose they are!"

                Looking surprised at the irritability, Kai and Leif went upstairs, then another five seconds later:                 "REI! THESE ARE YOUR CLOTHES!"

                "Really?" Rei muttered. "Then whose do I have?"

                Nobody save Saadii had the right clothes at any given time. Somehow, Rei and Kai had managed to retain their rightful shoes, and Max and Leif their respective junk, and the nursery had all of its components.

                Once it all had been figured out and switched around, they thought they were home free until Leif discovered Kai's sketch pads and pencils in the midst of his shoes. Cursing, Kai reclaimed his treasures and pronounced them unharmed.

                Then Max found Rei's martial arts trophies in his clothes, Kai found Marina's Precious Moments figurines in his clothes, Rei found Kirk's folders and files and colour cards and other designer/decorator stuff; in among his shoes. Like Kai had done not so much long ago, Kirk came tearing into the room swearing, and retrieved them, and after examining them, pronounced only one file harmed to any great extent.

                They finally got most of it sorted out at about midnight. Sighing, they returned to their rooms then groaned when they realized they still hadn't found the bedsheets.

                "No sheets," Rei moaned. "No…"

                "Won't kill you to sleep just on a mattress for a night," Kai yawned, stretching out on his own.

                "Want… sheets…" Rei grumbled sleepily, even as he fell asleep on the mattress.

_The next morning_

                "Wake up wake up wake up! Gogogogogogo!" Regine groaned, opening doors in a flurry. "We all overslept! Marina, Griff, come on, your bus comes in fifteen minutes! Boys, get up! You have to leave for the bus in half an hour!"

                "HALF AN HOUR?!" Rei yelped, bolting off his bed. "Don't give us much notice, do you?? I claim shower!" he yelled as Saadii emerged, still trying to dry her hair but dressed.

                "Five minutes, Rei!" Leif yelled. "The rest of us have to shower too, y'know!"

                Kai wandered out now, still blinking sleep out of his eyes. "Overslept? That's a first." He commented.

                Max meandered out of his and Leif's room with a bleary look in his eyes. "S'it morning yet?" he mumbled.

                "Hurry up, you guys, Kirk will drive you to school."

                "We make it!" Rei groaned in gratefulness as they all tumbled out from the van. "Just in time!"

                "I have a spare first block." Saadii said wistfully. "I could've slept for a little longer."

                The bell went off and they all scattered in their respective directions.

                Kai slipped into his art class silently and just as Mrs. Sankarat was explaining the new assignment. "Take a seat, Kai. Try not to make this a habit. Ms. Keilin, you would do well to remember that as well."

                Mariah flushed bright red at the admonishment and averted her eyes from Kai. "Stupid teacher's pet." She muttered. "Why'd you have to come back?"

                "Ms. Keilin!" Mrs. Sankarat snapped. "Enough talking during the explanation or you'll be doing time in Mr. Suranoki's gym class."

                Mariah shut up, but only after glaring at one of the other students snickering.

                "Rei, I don't know _how _you can live with that _glory-snatching brat_!" Mariah hissed as she plunked herself down at the table at lunch.

                Rei looked up from his Geography homework with a look of confusion in his eyes. "What are you _talking _about, Mariah?" he queried, before growling incoherently at his homework. "Do I _care what type of rain falls in September in Timbuktu? Li, what kind of rain falls in September in Timbuktu?" _

                "That Kai kid!" Mariah growled, viciously tearing the peel off her tangerine.

                "What about Kai?" Rei asked distractedly, skipping the Timbuktu question and scribbling the average rainfall in Wakkanai in December.

                "_How can you live in the __same house as that __obnoxious punk?" Mariah asked._

                "_Very easily." Rei answered. "There's so many _people _in my house that we all get _lost _in there any way. Besides, he's not much of a _talking _person so you don't _notice _he's there half the time. _Saadii_, on the other hand, __talks enough for the __both of them." He emphasized certain words, clearly mocking Mariah._

                "Oooh, I pity you, Rei." Mariah muttered, ignoring the gibe. "That kid is so _insufferable."_

                "Why are you calling him kid?" Li asked. "How do you know that he's not older than you?"

                "It's very _hard _to be _older than somebody born on _January 1_." Mariah answered delicately._

                "Good point," Kevin admitted.

                "Exactly." Mariah said serenely, leaving the topic at hand to gaze starry-eyed at Darrell Sanasuko, who had recovered from his little tiff from Kai five months ago and was now the hero of the school. He and Kai had an unspoken agreement: if he stayed away from Kai, Kai would stay away from him, and the teachers were only too happy to indulge that agreement.

                "Ugh," Gary muttered, watching her. "Sanasuko must've gotten a really good bang on the head from Kai. Thinks he's some kind of big shot now. Teachers caught him trying to beat up on one of the middle-schoolers this morning during their recess. Obviously charmed his way out of suspension, but he's gotta be on probation now."

                "Don't say that!" Mariah cried, whirling back around to glare at him. "Darrell would _never do something like that!"_

                "Mariah, how well do you really know that guy?" Li asked blandly. "He was always a bit psycho, even before Kai beat him up. Which I thought was really hilarious."

                "Go get a life, Li!" Mariah snapped. "Just because you didn't have the guts or skill to take on Kai, don't start shifting your flaws onto Darrell."

                "Excuse me?!" Li yelled, jaw dropping. Kevin and Gary both flinched; that was a really bad insult, one they had never heard Mariah tell Li before, in the all the two years they'd known them.

                "You heard me!" Mariah snapped right back. The two started bickering loudly, voices getting lost in the cacophony of noise in the cafeteria.

                "REI!" Mariah and Li both yelled. Rei looked up, startled, from his nearly-completed Geo.

                "_What?" he asked peevishly._

                "Tell Li he's being an _insensitive jerk_."

                "Tell Mariah she's being a stupid puppy dog that's gonna get kicked."

                "Li, you're being an _insensitive jerk_. Mariah, you're being a stupid puppy dog that's gonna get kicked. Now _why are we trying to make Rei fail Geo?"_

                "Rei's gonna fail Geo any way." Li teased.

                "If you guys keep bugging me like this, of course I will." Rei snapped. "Now _what is going on here?"_

                "They're arguing over who's got the right view of what Darrell Sanasuko is." Kevin told him.

                "Not the Sanasuko thing again." Rei groaned. "Guys, you've been going at this argument for, what, four years now?"

                "Five," Mariah said absently.

                "Ugh." Rei groaned in defeat. "Why me?"

                "Now who's right?" Li asked.

                "Rei agrees with _me_." Mariah said stubbornly. "Right, Rei?"

                "Rei's got more _sense_ than that." Li shot back. "Right, Rei?"

                "I refuse to answer this question on the grounds that I may be biased, living with a person whom Sanasuko's being going after for a couple of years, a person who had to literally give himself a restraining order against him and a person who thinks he's scum." Rei mumbled.

                "Good call, Rei." Gary said, as Mariah and Li both stalked away, fuming.

                "Think we should go do damage control?" Kevin asked.

                "Nah." Rei advised. "Trust me. I've known them since we were 6 years old. They'll have made up by 3 o'clock. You'll see. Now, Kevin, _you have Geo, right? Why in the _world_ is it crucial for us to know what type of rain falls in September in Timbuktu?"_

                That afternoon, Rei caught Saadii by the arm as she went past his locker. "Saadii, remind Kirk that I have martial arts after school."

                "Oh, sure," Saadii answered cheerfully, waving him off.

                "Don't forget again!" Rei yelled down the hall after her. "I can't even tell how get to the new place yet! I don't want to be stranded for hours!"

                "Don't forget that our tournament trip is the first two weeks of May, guys," Jonathan Maori, the instructor, said as his five advanced level students prepared to leave.

                "The _first _two weeks?" Rei asked, stopping dead in his tracks. "I thought it was the _last_ two weeks."

                "No." Jonathan said. "That's the _beginner _and _intermediate _levels. And they're only one week each."

                "Oh." Rei said. "'Cause I told Kirk and Regine it was the _last two weeks, which was why it was okay."_

                "Why?" Jonathan asked suspiciously. "If your sister's trying to get you out to China in the middle of the year again, I'm going to scream. She did that _last tournament, which, may I remind you, wound up with you missing it."_

                Rei thought for a moment. "Yeah, she should be starting again sometime soon. But Regine's due sometime in the first two weeks of May."

                "Oh." Jonathan said. "This might be a problem, right?"

                "Yeah." Rei admitted. "I'll let Kirk know."

                "Call me if you won't be going." Jonathan ordered. "Which I'm hoping isn't the case."

                "It's the _first_ two weeks of May?" Kirk groaned as Rei hopped into the van. "You told me it was the _last two weeks of May."_

                "I got it mixed up." Rei mumbled. There was a slight laugh from the backseat and Rei turned to glare at Kai.

                "What?" Kai asked. "It's funny."

                "Don't they teach you any respect for other people's not-good memory in shrink offices?"

                "Nope. They don't talk if I don't talk." Kai answered, arms crossed. "Don't know why Sankarat thought it was really necessary for psychological intervention. Just because my childhood portrait was full of blood and violence, no reason for them to order me to see a shrink. It's her fault for assigning it any way."

                "Not like it's doing any good." Kirk muttered. "I swear you must say and do _nothing during these sessions."_

                "Not a word, not a thing." Kai supplied, sounding clearly bored with the subject at hand. "I don't know why you bother."

                "Because the government says I have to, otherwise _you_ get carted off to the adolescent recovery and rehabilitation centre in the middle of Nowheresville." Kirk answered, missing the turn onto the new house's street. "Oops."

                "Go left on the next street," Kai said. "It's a cul-de-sac, it'll go straight back to the house."

                "How do you know this?" Rei asked him.

                "Used to live on this street." Kai answered. "Think it was the middle of Grade 8. Yeah, half of December and all of January."

                "Which poor unfortunate souls were they?" 

                "Oh, that was the Canadian family. That was a fun family. I did whatever I wanted and they never did a single thing about it. I just got the usual lecture about having to account for my actions on Judgment Day and I couldn't hide my sins, because God knew exactly what I was doing."

                "Uh-huh." Kirk muttered. "Funny you can remember exactly which home that was."

                "Home number 7 in Tokyo, number 18 overall." Kai answered. "I was only in state home for five days before I went there. And then I spent two months in state home after they left. And I was there for my birthday."

                "So your birthday's sometime in late December or any of January." Kirk deduced, always remembering that Nagasaki refused to give them any of Kai or Saadii's files. Kai had never actually told them when their birthday was. Or any of that other general information. "Why don't I just ask Saadii this stuff?" he wondered aloud.

                "Because Saadii doesn't know it either." Kai said. "I'm the only person who knows our birthday."

                "Betcha Blanche knows."

                "Nope." Kai said. "Nobody kept a calendar in our family. The only hint for birthdates was on birth certificates, of which I was the only one to ever find them. You go ahead and ask her. She doesn't even know her own birthday, let alone kids number 5 and 6."

                "Saadii, you _must_ know your birthday!" Regine groaned in frustration as Saadii paced around the kitchen, during the process of filling out parent/guardian permission forms for a choir trip.

                "I'm telling you, I don't have a clue!" Saadii affirmed.

                "You had to use some date for school records!"

                "Right. The Hitas just didn't bother, the Anakas chose a random date."

                "Which one was the home you were in before?"

                "Anaka."

                "What date have they been using?"

                "July 16, 1987."

                There was a snort from Kai as he entered. "Man, are you off."

                "So what is it, then?" Saadii challenged. "Betcha you don't know either."

                "Actually I do know it." Kai said. "And I have the documents to prove it. All seven birth certificates."

                "How did you get those?" Saadii asked incredulously.

                "Easily enough, they're covered in charcoal marks since Kurasu was going to use them for kindling."

                "Well, what's the date, then?" Regine asked in exasperation.

                "December 25, 1987." Kai answered.

                "That's Christmas." Max called from the living room.

                "No, duh, Sherlock!" Kai called back sarcastically.

                "Nobody's birthday is on _Christmas_." Max countered.

                "Wanna bet?"

                "Yeah, dishes for the next two months and all the spending money we each currently have."

                "Fine with me. Kiss your money goodbye." Kai said as he went back upstairs. He came down with two pretty grimy-looking papers.

                "These are in pretty grubby state," Regine commented, smoothing out one and frowning at the dark marks on her palm.

                "What do you expect, they were sitting in the bottom of a charcoal bin for more than fifteen years." Kai answered.

                "Oh, good, Saadii, we can fill out your middle name." Regine said, scribbling it down.

                "What is it?" Saadii asked blankly, leaning over Regine's shoulder. "Wow. What a weird, weird name. Hey, look at that, Kai, we match."

                "Yeah. Now if your name was Kaadii, then we'd _really_ match."

                "Or if your name was Sai."

                "Regine?" Max called. "Did I win?"

                "No, you lost dear. It really is Christmas Day."

                "Eat my victorious dust." Kai muttered.

                "Too bad for you, Kai. I have no money."

                "Liar," Rei's voice accused as he and Kirk came in. "I happen to know you have at least fifty bucks."

                "Rei! I nearly had him!"

                "No, you didn't." Kai called back. "I knew that too."

                "Nuts."

                That night, Regine had a bout of insomnia and wandered around the house aimlessly, checking in on all her not-so-little brood.

                Griff and Jesse were both asleep like rocks. Griff was half hanging over the side of his bed, all the blankets kicked off. Laughing silently, Regine gently lifted him back up onto the bed and covered him up again. She straightened out the blankets in Jesse's crib.

                Marina and Starr were pretty deep in sleep as well. The two girls were more still sleepers than any of the boys, so Regine just closed the door again.

                Max and Leif looked as if they had fallen asleep over homework. Regine tugged the chemistry textbook out from underneath Leif's face and placed it on the desk by his bed, moving the pencils and paper as well. Max had been in the middle of reading his novel study book, in which he was a few chapters behind. _Gen's Journey got placed on the desk with a bookmark inside for later skim reading._

                Usually, Regine saved Rei and Kai's room for last, since neither was usually asleep and bristled when she tried to check in on them, even at this hour. Saadii was sleeping peacefully as well, so Regine looked in on her two 'troubled' boys.

                Amazingly enough, Rei had fallen asleep, Driger curled up into a purring ball of fur in the small of his back. Regine rolled her eyes and plunked the cat back down on the floor. No matter how many times she told Rei that Driger wasn't allowed to sleep on the part of the bed that didn't have the cat blanket on it, he never listened. The cat meowed loudly and stalked out of the room.

                Kai was sitting slouched against the wall in the window seat, sketch pad in his lap and pencil case lying open at his feet. His head tilted forward and eyes closed, he had evidently fallen asleep while drawing. Intrigued at the discarding of the armbands on his arms, as well as the scarf around his neck, Regine drew closer and carefully removed the drawing supplies to his desk, taking a good look.

                What she saw shocked her.


	7. Heroes Kai's Dream

Not What You See

A/N: All righty, this is a bit of a jump chapter, as well. I realize that this might be a little confusing, but I promise: if it's not explained in this story, it will be in The Voice That Controls, which is the sequel to Not What You See.

DISCLAIMER: Disclaiming, disclaiming, disclaiming. Not owning, not owning, not owning.

LYRICS: Verse 1 and chorus of _Hero, Superchic[k]_

**Chapter 7: Heroes - Kai's Dream**

**No one sits with him, he doesn't fit in**

**But we feel like we do when we make fun of him**

**'Cause you want to belong, do you go along?**

**'Cause his pain is the price paid for you to belong**

                _"Hey, look at new looooooooser over there," a mocking voice came from across the cafeteria. "I heard that his parents don't even like him."_

_                9-year-old Kai Hiwatari ignored the jeers of his classmates at Regency Elementary. Just because they grew up in normal families didn't mean they were any better than him. At least, that's what that social worker kept trying to tell him. But that social worker grew up in a normal family, too. What did he know?_

_                Kai was angry at the Hitas. They split up him and Saadii because he had an 'attitude problem'. He had no attitude problem. He was fine the way he was. _

_He didn't even like these new parents, Stephen and Julie. They were a little too desperate to have their own flesh-and-blood child. He was just a filler, a guinea pig so that when they had their own kid, it would grow up perfect. But he guessed Alake would make it bearable._

_Where _was_ Alake, come to think of it? He said he'd be waiting for Kai at this table at lunch._

_Kai looked around him to find Alake. Then he heard Alake's voice call out from across the cafeteria, "Hey, loser! What's wrong with you? Too stupid to know that nobody wants you?"_

_That hit Kai right where it hurt: his emotions._

**It's not like you hate him or want him to die**

**But maybe he goes home and thinks suicide**

_                Kai came back to the Kiyoshi house that night sullen. He didn't speak to either Stephen or Julie, although it wasn't like they put forth any great effort to converse with him, but only retreated into the bedroom to do what adults did to create babies. Whatever it was, it must be painful for some people, because Stephen and Julie were always screaming each other's names. Sebastien and Mother had never been like that. Sebastien might have been screaming, but never Mother._

_                Kai looked around the kitchen, noticing that Julie had actually remembered to leave some food out for him. She had left a bread cutting knife out on the counter for him to cut a bun in half, but Kai noticed more the sharpness of the knife than the food._

_                '…too stupid to know that nobody wants you?' Alake's words echoed through Kai's head as the light reflected off of the blade._

_                You died if you lost enough blood, Kai knew that. The doctors who had come when Kurasu had shot Father had said that Father didn't die from the bullet, he had died from losing too much blood. When you died, you were out of the way. It was good when you were out of the way when nobody wanted you._

_                As if controlled by a machine, Kai picked up the knife and held it to his throat, sharp blade barely touching his pale skin. He pressed a bit, flinching when it pierced the skin and pain ran through his nerves, but then the sensation of losing his fears and emotional pain along with the blood made its way to his mind. Resolute that this was the right thing to do, Kai pushed the blade all the way in and dragged it across his throat._

_                As if from afar as he fell to the ground, he heard the bedroom door open and Julie enter the kitchen and start to scream._

_                Kai was in the hospital for two weeks, recovering from his attempt to kill himself, a new term that Kai soon learned while in hospital: suicide. Julie and Stephen seemed to have a change of heart, temporarily, and started spending more time with him, trying to talk to him and learn more about why he would try to kill himself at nine years old._

_                But their own child was still higher priority over him, and when Julie found out she was pregnant, Kai got sent packing back off to Nagasaki State Home. _

**Or he comes back to school with a gun at his side**

**And a kindness from you might have saved his life**

_12-year-old Kai woke up early that day. He crept into his foster father Phillip Kumi's study, locating the key Phillip thought he had hidden away safely. Little did he know that nothing could be hidden from Kai Hiwatari, master thief. He picked up the item of interest and crept back out, replacing the key._

_"Hey, what's the loser doing?" somebody whispered loudly during math, watching as Kai kept his hand in his pocket, running his fingers over the smooth, cold metal._

_Finally, Kai decided he'd had enough of this commentary and pulled out the gun from his pocket, fixing it on the perpetrator. The boy froze in mid-jeer and his face grew pale._

_The teacher turned around from the blackboard and gasped. "Mr. Hiwatari, what are you doing?"_

_"Shut up," Kai said coldly, squeezing the trigger._

**Heroes are made when you make a choice**

_                "Ives Academy is a _very_ prestigious institute." Olympia Jumushi told Kai as he left for school. "I expect you to be on your best behaviour. Not the attitude you've been giving Reginald and I."_

_                'What are you talking about, that _is_ my best behaviour,' Kai thought sarcastically as he exited the car. 'Another home, another school, about round of idiots who have no idea what _real_ life is.'_

_                "Mr. Hiwatari, you can pair up with Mr. Nanase for our project," the Grade 7 English teacher said._

_                'Now, who's Nanase?' Kai thought as the class split into their pairs. 'Guess it's that red-haired kid with no partner.'_

_                "Hey, I'm Tala." The boy greeted as he pulled up a chair next to Kai's desk. "You're Kai, right?"_

_                "Sure." Kai said, taking out a pencil. "So what's this project we're supposed to be doing?"_

_                "A poster on the events of chapter 8." Tala answered immediately. "I'm no great shakes at art, I warn you now."_

_                As he cheerfully discussed the project's requirements, in a one-sided conversation, Kai looked at him suspiciously._

_                'I don't know what's with this kid, but he's not scared of me. Or maybe he's just one of those kids who never shuts up when he's scared. Yeah, that's probably it.'_

_                "Why aren't you terrified of me?" Kai asked._

_                "Yeah, well, I figure you must have _some_ good in you." Tala answered easily. "Nobody's _completely_ bad. My parents the psychologists say so. Now, come on, do this Social Studies for me."_

_                "You can do it yourself, Tala." Kai answered, pulling out his own homework. "You're a whiz in Social Studies."_

_                "Yeah, but you have an average of 95%."_

_                "So?"_

**You could be a hero – heroes do what's right**

**You could be a hero – you could save a life**

**You could be a hero – you could join the fight**

**For what's right, for what's right, for what's right**

                Kai awoke with a start. He lifted up his head, a pain in his neck. 'Oh. Fell asleep in the window seat again. Where's my sketch pad?'

                Turning to look for it, he found it lying closed on the desk by his bed and Regine starting to leave the room. He shifted slightly, not wanting her to turn back around, but nothing escaped the eagle-eyes and wolf-senses of Regine Toshiro.

                "Kai Hiwatari, come here," she said quietly.

                "What?" he asked.

                "I think you owe me some explanations."


	8. Heroes Saadii's Dream

Not What You See

A/N: Just to let you know, the next two chapters are continuations of the lyrics of _Hero_. I decided that peeps needed to know some more stuff about Saadii and Leif.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Duh.

LYRICS: Verse 2 and chorus of _Hero, Superchic[k]_

**Chapter 8: Heroes - Saadii's Dream**

**No one talks to her, she feels so alone**

**She's in too much pain to survive on her own**

_                "But why are you sending Kai away?" 9-year-old Saadii wailed as Joshua Hita swung her brother's duffel bag into the trunk of the car. "Kai, stay here with me!"_

_                "We just can't keep Kai anymore, Saadii." Ashley Hita told her as the car drove off. "He's too dangerous."_

_                "No, he's not!" Saadii screamed, trying to escape Ashley's grasp to run after the car taking her brother away from her. "KAI!!!"_

_"You did so well in the concert tonight, Saadii," Julius Anaka told his 12-year-old foster daughter as the family left Nagasaki Academy. "I am really proud of you. That was a beautiful poem."_

_"Thanks," Saadii said quietly. She had been unusually quiet ever since the beginning of the month, when her teacher had come out with a family project. When she had asked the teacher what she should be doing, the teacher told her to do whatever she wanted._

_"What was that all about, though?" 13-year-old Hilaire Aikotama asked. "I kind of lost it after the first verse."_

_"You couldn't tell?" 19-year-old Kamal Ringo asked. "It was really obvious. You were talking about your brother, right?"_

_Saadii nodded silently._

_"It was a pretty-sounding poem!" 6-year-old Kalika Ren said cheerfully, skipping alongside the rest of the family. "And Diahann's song was pretty too!"_

_"Yes, a lovely song, Diahann." Gwendolyn Anaka said._

_12-year-old Diahann Tiriku blushed._

_The next day at school, the moment the school bus had let the kids off at the Academy, Hilaire and Diahann both ditched Saadii and Kalika got swept off to the younger children's end._

_Trying to push down the feelings of abandonment and despair, Saadii sat down against the fence in the field, opening up her notebook to a blank page and starting to write._

**The hurt she can't handle overflows to a knife**

**She writes on her arm wants to give up her life**

                _Saadii was finally alone in the house. Everybody else was away at different extracurricular activities: Kalika at gymnastics, Diahann at piano, Hilaire at the mall. Julius, Gwendolyn and Kamal had an over-18 party to attend._

_                The monumental silence of the house was unnerving and Saadii put on her favourite CD and upped the volume about three notches higher than she normally would have liked it. She opened up her notebook and took out a pencil, but no inspiration came to her. Just the overwhelming sensation of loneliness and despondency. The pain was terrifying and Saadii thought that it would pop her open like an overblown balloon._

_Dully, Saadii noticed that Kamal had left his pocket knife lying out on the table. Picking it up, she methodically placed slices across her arms, smiling slightly as the long-repressed emotional pain seemed to evaporate in place of the immediate physical pain._

**Each day she goes on is a day that she's brave**

**Fighting the lie that giving up is the way**

**Each moment of courage her own life she saves**

**When she throws the pills out, a hero is made**

_                "I just don't understand why you did this, Saadii," Gwendolyn told her foster daughter tearfully as she hugged her tightly. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"_

_                "I don't want to do this anymore, Gwen," 14-year-old Saadii cried, burying her face in Gwendolyn's shoulder. "I don't want to hurt anymore, but he's there in my dreams and I can't get away and nobody understands except Kai but Kai's not here and I don't know where he is and—"_

_                "Ssh, ssh, ssh." Gwendolyn whispered, gently soothing the hysterical girl and silent tears running down her face as she watched the handful of sleeping pills slowly disintegrate in the water._

_                "It hurts, Gwen, make it stop." Saadii sobbed. "He hurt me, Gwen, make him go away."_****

**Heroes are made when you make a choice**

_                "Go, Saadii, go!" Kai yelled, stumbling over a rock in the path. "Head for Tokyo! I'll catch up with you later!"_

_                "No, Kai!" 15-year-old Saadii screamed, even as she disappeared into the forest dividing the Kurasu property from the highway. "Kai, come on! I won't leave you! I can't leave you!"_

_                "Saadii, GO! I swear, I'll be fine!"_

_                Crying, Saadii emerged onto the side of the highway as the enraged voice of her stepfather started yelling and Kai's protests reached her ears._****

**You could be a hero - heroes do what's right**

**You could be a hero - you might save a life**

**You could be a hero - you could join the fight**

**For what's right, for what's right, for what's right**

                "Saadii, what's wrong?" Regine asked, coming into the girl's room.

                Saadii had woken up with a scream and was sitting up in bed breathing quickly and heavily. Tears were streaming down her face and she looked ready to fall apart at the slightest touch. She looked up as Regine entered and managed, "N—n—nothing, Regine. Just a nightmare."

                "Musta been one heck of a nightmare," Max's sleepy voice came from the doorway.

                "Max! Go back to bed," Regine reprimanded.

                "Sorry, did I wake you up?" Saadii asked contritely.

                "Wake up screaming like the devil, you're bound to wake somebody up." Max answered semi-sarcastically before wandering back upstairs.

                Saadii rubbed a hand over her eyes absently, causing the long sleeve of her pajama top to fall down to her elbow, exposing the long, ugly scars imprinted on her forearm: some Kurasu-inflicted, some self-inflicted, others completely by accident.

                Regine took one look and nearly exploded with anger at this mysterious Kurasu who had done so much harm in these teens in so little time. She didn't even need to ask Saadii how those had happened because she knew that, like the pitiful explanation she had wrangled out of Kai a few nights ago, if he hadn't done those, the harm he had caused had made her do those herself.


	9. Heroes Leif's Dream

Not What You See

A/N: All right, last one in the little mini "Hero" trilogy of chapters. Guess what the lyrics for this one is?

DISCLAIMER: Doy. See Chapters 1 through 8. Take a look at my wallet. *takes out wallet, shakes* *wallet gives sad little cough as dust flies out* If I was owning all this and making money off this, my wallet would not have Moneyless-Syndrome.

LYRICS: Verse 3 and chorus of _Hero, Superchic[k]_

**Chapter 9: Heroes - Leif's Dream**

**No one talks to him about how he lives**

**He thinks that the choices he makes are just his**

**Doesn't know he's the leader with the way he behaves**

**And others will follow the choices he's made**

_                "Leif, where were you?" Wilhemina Kinomita asked harshly as her 14-year-old son came into the kitchen at midnight._

_                'Out," Leif answered indifferently, heading up the stairs._

_                "Leif, you can't keep doing this. You know Kenya has started staying out past her curfew too."_

_                "So?"_

_                "Leif, you're the older brother, they follow what you do."_****

**He lives on the edge, he's old enough to decide**

**His brother who wants to be him is just nine**

**He can do what he wants because it's his right**

**The choices he makes change a nine-year-old's life**

_                "Whoo!" 15-year-old Leif crowed as he entered the house late one evening. "Now that's what I call a rush!"_

_                "What'd you do, Leif?" Blaze asked eagerly._

_                "Yes, Leif, what did you do?" his aunt Rebecca asked, entering the living room. "You were supposed to be back a few hours ago."_

_                "Me and my friends went down to the old jailhouse, went exploring in it. Looking for the ghost of old Billy Bonsei," he added to his younger siblings: 14-year-old Kenya, 10-year-old China, 9-year-old Blaze. 3-year-old Starr and 7-month-old Jesse were too young to enjoy the sensation of terror at sneaking into the building that had been off-limits to the public for years._

_                "Wow.." Blaze said reverently. "You're really brave, Leif."_****

**Heroes are made when you make a choice**

_March 5, 2003_

                "Leif, don't forget you've got the visitation with your aunt this afternoon." Regine reminded him as she went past his bedroom. "Get Kirk to lend you the Rav. Kai! Come on, you can't be late today!"

                "Late for what?" Max asked, looking up from his homework.

                "None of your business," Kai answered shortly as he left his room, backpack slung over his shoulder.

                "Where're you going, Kai?" Rei called.

                "None of your business." Kai repeated, disappearing down the staircase.

                "What's with him?" Rei asked as he entered the other boys' bedroom and flopped down onto Leif's bed.

                "Who knows anything about Kai?" Leif muttered. "Hey, Kirk!"

                "Yeah, Leif?" Kirk asked, coming up the stairs.

                "Can I borrow the Rav this afternoon for the visitation?"

                "Sure, just don't get into a car accident."        

                "Of course I won't, I've got Starr and Jesse in the backseat."

                "Hey, Leif!" Blaze called excitedly as Leif entered the room, Starr dashing along behind him and Jesse tottering beside his older brother.

                "Heya, kid." Leif greeted cheerfully, as Kenya and China stood up.

                "Nice to see you looking so cheerful, Leif," Rebecca said as she picked up Jesse and swung him around.****

**You could be a hero - heroes do what's right**

**You could be a hero - you might save a life**

**You could be a hero - you could join the fight**

**For what's right, for what's right, for what's right**

                "Hey, where's Kai?" Rei asked that evening at dinner, as everybody else was busy eating.

                Saadii was unusually quiet and only picked at her dinner dismally. Regine and Kirk both seemed preoccupied about something.

                "Good question," Leif commented. "I haven't seen him all day. Not since this morning."

                "So?" Max asked.

                Regine sighed. "Remember that middle school shooting about three or four years ago?"

                "The one at Jumushi?" Rei asked. "Yeah, why? What does this have to do with Kai and his not being here?"

                "Kai was at Jumushi when that happened," Kirk continued.

                "So?" Leif asked skeptically.

                "Kai _was _the shooter." Kirk finished. "He's still got four months and three weeks of a jail sentence to finish up. He's only done one month and one week."

                "_What?" Rei nearly choked on his food. Max paled and Leif's eyes widened. Saadii just continued to push her mashed potatoes around on her plate. She had obviously been told this beforehand._

                "You heard me perfectly fine, Rei," Regine sighed. "He'll be back in late July."

                "July 26th," Saadii said suddenly. "He's out on July 26th."

                "So why didn't they get him the _last_ fifty times he's gone to the police station?" Max asked sensibly.

                "They decided they couldn't 'conveniently forget' anymore," Kirk answered curtly. "Now keep eating, all of you."


	10. Parting Is Not Sweet Sorrow, It Is Painf...

Not What You See

A/N: Whoever told me that nothing else had better happen to this family… you're gonna _kill_ me. *whimpers* Don't kill me. Please? And grr! I didn't realize my Family Tree files saved directly onto the Zip drive now and my dad reclaimed the Zip drive for his computer, so I've lost my trees!

DISCLAIMER: I own only those whom I own. It's too numerous to count.

**Chapter 10: Parting Is Not Sweet Sorrow, It Is Painful Sorrow**

                There wasn't a voice bidding Kai to come as the cell door was opened. Not a word was spoken from the time he left the cell to the time he was released to Kirk and Regine.

                ****

_                "Ya think you can just do whatever you want, kid?" Wade Hiwatari hissed as he advanced menacingly on his son._

_                The shot rang throughout the quiet country air that cold spring morning. Wade let out a startled and pained gasp as the hurtling bullet buried itself in his neck._

_                Despite himself, 7-year-old Kai let out a scream. He looked up from his father's dead, bleeding body to the trees where the shot had come from._

_                The sun glinted off the shining metal barrel of the rifle, the maniacal grin on Kurasu's face clearly evident._

_                "Listen, kid, I don't know what you think you are, but you're not God!" Gregory Kin yelled at 10-year-old Kai, hand snaking out to slap him across the face._

_                "Get out," Arthur Tutui told 11-year-old Kai._

_                "What?" Kai asked bewilderedly._

_                "OUT!" Arthur yelled. "NOW!" For emphasis, he shot a fist into the backseat at Kai's head._

_                Startled, Kai scrambled out of the car onto the side of the highway leading into Tokyo and watched as they drove back towards Nagasaki. "Yeah, well, goodbye to you too, you—"_

_                "Hey, kid, why'd you figure my parents want you?" 20-year-old Blake Humira asked 11-year-old Kai tauntingly. "You got found on the highway. Maybe I should just dump you in Kyoto. Would'ja like that, Kai?"_

_                "I am never going back there!" 12-year-old Kai announced definitively to Tala. "Never in my life! I'm tired of people treating me like a punching bag."_

_                "I'm back," 13-year-old Kai told Tala sheepishly as he climbed in the bedroom window. "Sorry. I just couldn't take Akkani's **** anymore."_

_                "Geez, Kai, you almost went a year without landing yourself in an abusive home this time," 14-year-old Tala noted ironically as Kai gently cleaned a nasty cut on his forehead, grimacing as he heard the sounds of Tala's father on the phone downstairs with Dickinson. "I think that's almost a record. What'd he do to you, any way?"_

_                "Threw me against a wall," Kai answered indifferently. "I've had worse."_

                "Kai, you're home, you're home, you're home, you're home!!" Saadii said happily as she flung her arms around her brother.

                "Yeah, I'm back," Kai said carefully. "Saye, stop strangling me."

                Immediately, Saadii released him and he gave her a rare grin.

                "You have excellent timing to go finish off a sentence," Leif commented easily as he entered. "You missed the whole 'waking-up-screaming-at-3-AM' phase."

                "Fancy that," Kai said mildly. "Um, can I go put my bag…"

                "Go ahead, dear," Regine said absently, breaking up an argument between Griff and Starr. "Honestly, you two! Can't you get along for _one minute?"_

                "Oh, hey, Kai," Rei said, looking up from his manga. "You're back."

                "No, I'm a figment of your imagination." Kai said sarcastically, dumping his bag on the bed.

                "Oh, all right," Rei said distractedly, returning to his manga.

                Kai snorted and shook his head as he put his art stuff back in the desk drawer he usually kept them in, his Discman and CDs back on the desk and the clothes in the laundry.

                "Kai!" Marina shrieked as she passed the room. "You're home!"

                "No, really." Kai muttered under his breath, but allowed Marina to hug him momentarily.

                "Rei! Kai! Marina! Max! Come down for dinner!" Kirk yelled up the stairs.

                As dinner progressed, both Kirk and Regine noticed a definite difference in Kai's attitude since he had left in March. It was almost as if he was hungry for human interaction: he was allowing more physical contact from his 'siblings' than he had ever let them before.

                The others were just so used to life without Kai by now that it took even Saadii a while to remember he was once again there.

                Two-and-a-half-month-old Chloe and Bronwyn seemed not to care that this new stranger had joined the household. Then again, they were probably still too young to notice.

                One afternoon about the beginning of August, after Regine had dropped Max off at a soccer practice, Rei, Saadii and Leif at the mall; Kai off at his still-compulsory psychiatrist appointment, and Marina and Griff both off at their respective friends' houses, she went over to the State Home to go see Mr. Dickinson about something.

                It shook her to see the state of living in there. She had thought the city had progressed past this sort of thing.

                There was absolutely no real cleaning being done in there, just pushing the junk on the floor to the walls so the traffic could get through the hallways. There was yells and screams and cries in every which direction.

                "Whatcha want, lady?" one young child about five years old asked, tugging at her pant leg with a grimy hand.

                "Sammy!" an older girl about ten, admonished. "Get back here! That was rude! What can we do for you, ma'am?" she asked politely.

                "Can I speak with Stanley, please?" Regine asked uncertainly.

                "Mr. D? Sure. Follow me."

                Regine followed the girl down the hallway, past what seemed like hundreds of pairs of curious eyes to a small office at the other end of the home.

                "Mr. D?" the girl ventured. "Somebody's here to see you, sir."

                "All right. Thank you, Stephanie."

                Regine entered the room.

                "Oh, Regine!" Stanley said cheerfully, closing the door behind her. "What a pleasant surprise!"

                "This is an atrocious state of affairs here, Stanley," Regine said bluntly.

                "Yes, well, it's not really my place, so I can't do anything about it. All I can do is get these kids homes as soon as I can. Mind you, when it comes to Kai, he came back about fifty times any way."

                "Speaking of Kai," Regine started. "Kirk and I have been discussing the possibility of…"

                "And?" Kirk prompted when Regine returned home with the kids later.

                "He said no." Regine said in a clipped tone.

                "What?!" Kirk exclaimed. "To every single one?"

                "To every single one," Regine affirmed. "And more bad news besides. Guys, dinner is in half an hour. Don't get too involved in whatever you're going to do."

                "Sure," Leif yawned. "I'm just takin' a half hour nap then. Geez, Saadii, you're a shopaholic. Don't you qualify for, like, Shopaholics Anonymous or something?"

                Saadii rolled her eyes as she headed down for her bedroom in the basement.

                "_WHAT?!" Nearly everybody yelped at dinner._

                "Calm down," Regine sighed.

                "Calm down?!" Rei nearly screeched. "After telling us something like that?!"

                "Listen, Rei, I can't do anything about it!" Regine suddenly yelled. "The state's decided there are too many foster children in this house!"

                "Can't Mr. Dickinson do something about it?" Max asked, nearly in tears.

                "Mr. Dickinson was the one who told me it." Regine sighed again.

                "_He's not going to do anything," Leif grumbled._

                "Never has," Rei and Kai both muttered as one. "Why would he start now?"

                After another moment of silence, Kai suddenly paled and left the room.

                "Kai!" Kirk called. When there was no answer, he stood up with a frustrated groan and went after him.

                "Kai, what is going on with you?" Kirk snapped as he caught Kai aimlessly trying to open up old scars on his arms again. Grabbing one forearm, he whirled the teen around to face him and got an unpleasant shock to discover tears threatening to fall from those blood-coloured eyes. "Kai, answer me," he said, more gently.

                "This was my last chance, you know," Kai finally muttered, rubbing the other forearm across his eyes, ashamed to be caught with tears in his eyes. "If I got thrown out of here, I was on my own."

                "Kai, Regine and I didn't tell you guys the whole truth," Kirk said regretfully. "We're only supposed to have a maximum of two fosters in the house now, since we have four kids of our own. It's a stupid rule, I know. Stanley has decided you're too unstable emotionally and mentally to leave."

                Rei felt like kicking the house down. Too bad he hadn't been paying the closest attention to the class when Jonathan was teaching them the flying powerhouse kick. That probably would've torn the house down nicely. Or at least his room.

                'So Dickinson's decided that only _five_ of us have to be kicked out. Kai's not one of them.' Rei thought to himself angrily. 'And of course, Max and I wouldn't get seniority or anything, since we're 'emotionally stable'.'

"What a bunch of bull." Rei said out loud.

                "Rei, get out from the shadows," Kirk sighed. "I may as well talk to you too."

                "Am I allowed to stay?" came the other three older kids' voices.

                "Sure, why not?" Kirk grumbled. "Gonna have to break it sooner or later."

                "I'm staying here… with Kai, right?" Saadii asked, a note of panic in her voice.

                "Actually…" Kirk hesitated. "You're going back to Nagasaki."

                "What?!" Both Saadii and Kai yelled.

                "Nagasaki is really supposed to have both of you, but they would only take one of you." Regine said, coming out after having put the younger children to bed, probably for the last time. "Stanley decided you would take it better than Kai."

                "So now because Kai's a nutcase, he gets to stay!" Leif exploded.

                "Leif!" Regine scolded.

                "It's true!" Leif hurled back viciously. "So who else gets to stay? Starr? Jesse?"

                "Neither of them," Kirk said, an ironic tone in his voice. "They decided they didn't want to break up your family."

                "Yeah, like it's not already broken." Leif muttered. "No sane person would take six kids in one shot."

                "Whoa, whoa, whoa." Saadii interrupted. "So they'll break up what's left of _my family, but they won't break up __his. What's with that?"_

                "Well, Blanche said she would take—"

                "No!" both Kai and Saadii replied in unison.

                "That's what I told Stanley you would say," Regine said.

                "Any way," Max interrupted again. "Who's staying, then? Me or Rei?"

                Kirk moaned. "Neither of you." He said lamely. "Even if the state hadn't decided to toss you all out of here, you two would've been leaving any way."

                "Why?" Rei asked suspiciously.

                "Because the state decided you should go back to China for good," Regine said, carefully holding back the rage.

                "And Judy's come back for Max." Kirk finished, eye twitching.

                "What?!" Rei yelled.

                "Judy?" Max asked blankly.

                "Your biological mother," Regine supplied.

                "Oh."

                "So in essence, the nutcase gets to stay only because they think he's going to shoot somebody. Again." Leif said angrily.

                "Hey, I never actually hit the guy! And he was asking for it!" Kai snapped, fists clenching.

                "Boys! Get a hold of yourselves!" Kirk yelled. "In the house, all of you, _now! Rei and Saadii, pack tonight, you leave tomorrow morning. Rei, your ride comes for you at 4 in the morning. Saadii, whoever that person is that's coming from Nagasaki will be here at 5:30. Max, start packing, Judy's coming for you tomorrow afternoon. Leif, start packing your stuff, we'll get Starr and Jesse's stuff in the morning, your aunt is coming for you tomorrow afternoon as well. Kai—"_

                "He's not leaving," Leif said sarcastically. "_Remember_? He's a nutcase."

                "One more time and I'll 'nutcase' you!" Kai snarled, nearly jumping Leif right then, if it weren't for Kirk grabbing his arms to hold him back.

                "Kai! Calm down if you don't want to go back to jail for assault!" Kirk snapped.

                Still growling curses at Leif, Kai released his tightly-clenched fists and Kirk released him. "Now go back up to your room."

                "Hey, at least _you_ get to stay," Rei said stiffly as he took out another pile of clothes from the drawers in his dresser.

                "Oh, yeah, whoop-dee." Kai grumbled. "I get to let them take my sister away from me again, not to mention virtually every other person I have ever not hated in my life. And all because I am apparently a maniac waiting to happen."

                "Listen, I have lived here for almost ten years now!" Rei snapped. "I have lived with Kirk and Regine longer than I lived with my actual blood family! I hardly remember my blood parents, and my blood sisters are _insane!"_

                "No, you haven't seen insane until you've seen _our_ family," Saadii said from the doorway.

                "True enough," Kai admitted grouchily.

                "Try me." Rei said doubtfully. "Beat a racist sister who is a totalitarian right out of '1984', and two sisters who are her mindless minions, who constantly attempt to kidnap me."

                "At least yours actually _wants_ you," Kai said softly.

                "Ours just wants to kill us." Saadii added.

                "What?" Max asked, joining them while hopping onto Rei's bed.

                "Now _that_ I don't believe." Leif said, sitting down on Kai's abandoned bed, as Kai had claimed the window seat again. "Nobody's family wants to _kill_ them."

                "Wanna bet?" Kai challenged. "Beat this: a father who really _was insane, we have the documents to prove it; a stepfather who killed our father so he could marry our mother, who doesn't give a **** about anybody but herself; and who is also insane, having the documents to prove it, and who killed my three-year-old sister for no reason at all, but only because he wanted to; two older sisters and two older brothers who all abandoned ship the second they turned 14 years old and the oldest saying that she wants us to come live with her only because she's a social worker and it would look bad if she didn't even _try_ to find and claim the siblings she doesn't actually want, and the other three not even trying; half-siblings who think that they're the only people who inhabit this planet and are spoiled rotten and take after their father,"_

                "I think we get the idea." Max said shakily.

                'Oh, I can go on for a while longer," Kai said.

                 "And I've probably got another five minutes' worth," Saadii added.

                "Spare us," Leif said.

                "Okay, you beat me," Rei said. "Man, my family looks almost _normal next to yours."_

                "Wanna trade places?" Saadii asked wistfully.

                "No." Rei said. "Somewhere underneath the complacency in Nami and Neko are sisters who might actually care for me. I intend to find them."

                "Can't blame a girl for trying." Saadii sighed, pushing her brother over to the other side of the window seat and leaning back against Kai's legs. "Night, boys."

                At 3:15 in the morning, Kirk woke up to go make sure that Rei was up and ready to leave by 4. Climbing the stairs to Rei and Kai's room, soon to be only Kai's room (a prospect that none of them were looking forward to), he was slightly surprised to find all the seven foster children sprawled out in various locations in the room.

                At some point in the night, Leif must've taken Jesse out of his crib and Starr must have wandered into the room, because all three of the Kinomitas were asleep on Kai's bed. Max was nearly falling off headfirst from the foot of Rei's bed and the two Hiwataris asleep in the window seat, Saadii leaning again Kai's legs and Kai leaning back against the wall in his normal sleeping position when he fell asleep in the window seat. _(A/N: Aww…)_

                Finally locating Rei, curled up in a ball at the head of his bed with Driger sleeping on his head; Kirk poked Rei awake, causing Driger to jump to the floor and stalk off in indignation.

                "Wha?" Rei yawned, sitting up.

                "Go take your shower, Rei." Kirk said softly. "You leave in forty-five minutes."

                "Oh." Rei mumbled, rubbing sleep out of his eyes as he stumbled out into the hallway.

                By the time Kai finally woke up after having briefly awakened to say goodbye to his sister, it was nearly two o'clock in the afternoon. Rei, Saadii and Max had all left, and Rebecca Kinomita was in the mud room in the front attempting to load her nephews and niece's bags into the van. Three more kids between Leif and Starr's age were jumping around all three of them, talking excitedly. Marina and Griff were both grumpily occupying themselves out in the backyard. 

                "Oh, Kai, good, you're up." Regine said busily from the kitchen, banging pots around on the stove.

                "Yeah." Kai muttered. "Where's Kirk?"

                "He had to go for a last-minute stand-in job down in Ramsay Estates." Regine said distractedly. "Do you want something to eat to hold you over until dinner?"

                "No thanks," Kai said, rubbing his left arm absently.

                "Will you be okay here with the kids if I go out for a bit?" Regine queried, as the sounds of the front door slamming shut and a vehicle roaring away reached the kitchen. Flinching just the slightest bit, she put away the dishes she had finished doing. "I think I'm going to go see Marie." Marie was one of Regine's closest friends in Tokyo.

                "Sure," Kai said, still rubbing his arm.

                "Thanks, Kai." Regine said. "Chloe and Bronwyn are both napping, they should probably wake up about three o'clock. Don't let Marina and Griff stay outside all afternoon. Don't forget you've got summer night school tonight if you want to start Grade 11 in September."

                "Yeah,"

                "And if Kirk calls before I get back, tell him to go pick up some pizza or something." Regine continued to say as she grabbed her purse and keys. "I'll be back before dinnertime."

                "All right."

                As the door closed yet again that morning, Marina and Griff both came tumbling into the kitchen. It was amazing to Kai how quiet the Toshiro household could be with only five kids in it. Some people would think that it would still be noisy but it wasn't.


	11. There Is No Replacement For Those Before

Not What You See

A/N: *is crying* I'm sorry, Lady Ann Kenobi! I didn't mean to break up the family, really I… okay, maybe I did. BUT IT'S ALL FOR THE SAKE OF PLOT! It's building of human character. And I will get them back together in the end… not all of them but most of them… *continues crying* Oh man! I just gave you guys a spoiler! *groans*

DISCLAIMER: I own only whom I own.

**_Chapter 11: There Is No Replacement For Those Before_**

                "Oh, hello, Stanley," Kirk said distractedly one night as the remaining members of the Toshiro household were sitting around the sadly empty table two weeks later. "What is it?"

                "Daddy, why's Mr. Dickinson calling us?" Marina asked plaintively.

                "Yeah, he already taked Rei and Saadii and Max and Leif and Starr and Jesse." Griff chimed in. "Is he takin' Kai too? Or is he takin' Chloe and Bronwyn now?"

                "I see." Kirk said heavily. He paused momentarily. "Stanley,  we may not be able to. I need to get back to you on this." He hung up and turned back towards Regine. "Stanley wants to know if we can take one of his new cases for a while, until the child custody battle between the families is over."

                "Which would be?" Regine prompted.

                "Anywhere between a month and a few years." Kirk sighed.

                "That's a pretty wide range," Kai said softly.

                "How old is this kid?" Regine asked.

                "About three years old." Kirk responded. "There's actually two of them. Stanley told me he obtained a temporary waiver for the limit for us for this one case."

                "They're both three?" Regine asked.

                "Yeah." Kirk said.

                "What's the problem?" Kai asked.

                "It just seems a bit callous to me, to lose six of our other foster children because of an overabundance here, and to take two new ones two weeks later." Regine murmured.

                "It's life," Kai said. "People come, people go. There's no replacement for the ones who were there before them, they just take the place that the previous ones didn't really need."

                There was complete silence in the kitchen before Kirk cracked, "You were talking to Tala again, weren't you?"

                "Yeah." Kai admitted, grinning slightly.

                "That's what I figured." Kirk smiled, and picked up the phone once Regine finally nodded.

                "Kai, can you go get the door?" Regine called from the nursery, where she was trying to change Chloe's diaper and get Bronwyn dressed without much luck.

                "Sure," Kai called back, standing up and taking off for the door before Griff tried to open it himself. "Griff, step away from the door," he ordered.

                "You're no fun," Griff pouted.

                "I'm mortally wounded," Kai said dryly as he swung open the door to find Mr. Dickinson standing outside with his briefcase in one hand and the hand of one twin girl firmly in the other. The second twin was clinging to her sister's hand.

                "Hello, Kai," Mr. Dickinson said, smiling slightly. He got that he was no longer the favourite person in anybody's books in this household. "Is Kirk or Regine home?"

                "Yes, I am," Regine called tiredly from the nursery. "Come on in, Stanley."

                "She's in the nursery," Kai told him coolly.

                "A nursery's for a _baby_." One little girl announced, wide grey eyes gazing solemnly at Kai.

                Her sister, identical right down the length of their jet-black hair, nodded in silent agreement.

                "We have two babies," Kai said. "Chloe and Bronwyn. They're identical twins."

                "I'm Brylee." The twin on the right said importantly.

                "And I'm Brietta," the twin on the left added.

                "We're identical twins too," Brylee informed Kai.

                "I couldn't tell," Kai commented, rolling his eyes.

                "Lotsa people can't," Brietta assured him.

                "Stanley, I know you've probably got a lot to do, so unless there's something desperate you need to tell me in person, just drop the files on the living room table, Kirk can put them away later." Regine sighed, exiting the nursery with Bronwyn on one arm. "Kai, can you go get Chloe for me? Oh, no. Not more identical twins. Is it just me or is this family drawn to identical twins? Chloe and Bronwyn, Kai and Saadii. Okay, you two aren't exactly identical, but you are still really similar; and…"

                "Brylee and Brietta." Mr. Dickinson supplied.

                "Oh, boy, they even match." Regine groaned. "All right. Kai, can you bring them up to—"

                "Sure," Kai said quickly.

                "_More _identical twins?" Kirk said dryly that evening. "Ugh."

                Griff was eyeing the two little girls with great curiosity. "How do we know who's who?"

                "I'm Brylee," the twin on the left of Kai said.

                "And I'm Brietta." The twin on the right of Kai added.

                "Try one name. If it doesn't work, try the other." Regine muttered under her breath. "That's going to be my approach."

                "I'm different from Brylee 'cause I got a ear hole." Brietta announced, pointing to a semi-closed earring hole. "Brylee don't got a ear hole."

                _Thank you_, Kirk mouthed to the ceiling. Kai cackled.

                "What are you going to do when that hole closes up?" he asked.

                "Scream." Kirk grumbled.

                The doorbell interrupted just then. Growling under his breath, Kai got up and took off for the front door. A second later, he reappeared in the kitchen, closely followed by two young Chinese women not too much older than Kai…

                And a cheerful-looking Rei.__


	12. One Tiny Thread, And The Whole Family Un...

Not What You See

A/N: Sorry about the long waits. Really, I'm horribly sorry. See, I have Stargate SG-1 and Inuyasha obsessions to get out of my system. But I AM continuing this story: it's my favourite story, not to mention the one with the most reviews! I'm hoping to get to 100 before the end of the story! . And my aim _was_ to have this chapter ready to upload by Good Friday! And I missed it by a long shot! So, without further babbling: here's chapter 12! (Yikes, 12 chapters already???? O.O It's a record! And this story is far from over, let alone the sequel that's planned!)

**NOTE:** I just felt like I HAD to get this chapter done very soon, as a sort of tribute to the resilient spirit of David Pishke. This was one of the men who co-wrote the real-life experiences book Where Children Run. He was one of the two boys in that book, whose life is loosely the inspiration for this story. He died a few days ago of a heart attack at age 57.

DISCLAIMER: I own nobody but whom I own.

**_Chapter 12: The Ties of Family_**

                "Rei!" Marina shrieked, jumping up from her chair and flinging her arms around his legs.

                "Hey, Marina," Rei greeted the little girl cheerfully.

                "Are you coming back to stay?" Griff asked hopefully.

                "Apparently." Rei answered, sitting down in the chair Kai had pulled out for him. "I'm not questioning when my sisters drag me out of bed in the middle of the night to go take three different flights just to get to Tokyo."

                "I couldn't stand the look on his face anymore," the younger woman muttered, eyes downcast. "I would've brought him back even if Lian hadn't..."

                "That's quite enough out of you, Neko," the other said shortly.

                "Oh, what did she do now?" Regine groaned.

                "We'll let Rei tell you," the woman answered vaguely. "We've got to be going now."

                "Right," the younger one said distractedly.

                "Bye!" Rei said as they quickly left.

                "Rei?" Kirk asked expectantly.

                "It's... a long story," Rei said, breaking to yawn. "I couldn't have some dinner, could I?"

                "Of course, Rei, dear," Regine fussed, dispatching Kai to get another place setting.

                "So?" Kai prompted later that night, as the two teens were in their room. He had been finishing up some summer school homework while Rei finished remaking his bed and putting away his clothes.

                "So what?" Rei responded.

                "So what happened?" Kai returned. "I notice you never did tell Kirk and Regine."

                "I was arguing with Lian and she got a little violent." Rei said nonchalantly.

                "Exactly how violent?" Kai inquired, looking up from his notebook.

                "A little too violent," Rei answered ambiguously.

                "Did she break a bone, crush your head, slash your arm?" Kai prodded.

                Rei took this opportunity to look over Kai's shoulder. "That's not homework," he said accusingly.

                Kai flipped his sketchbook shut quickly and returned to the notebook hidden underneath. "Now it is. So, how violent?"

                "Gave me a few bruises," Rei muttered.

                "That's all?" Kai asked, unimpressed.

                "Whaddaya mean, _that's all_??" Rei demanded.

                "Just remember you're talking to the guy with the violent past here." Kai said calmly, slamming his notebook closed. "Okay, screw Geography. Who cares whether they're sedimentary or metamorphical? They're _rocks_."

                "This is also true," Rei conceded, flopping down on his bed and scratching Driger on the head.

                "Kai!" Regine's voice came from downstairs. " You've got a phone call!"

                "Who is it?" Kai called back, catching the cordless that Rei tossed to him.

                "Blanche." Regine responded.

                Kai stopped dead with his finger on the Talk button. "I don't want to talk to her."

                Regine sighed from the foot of the stairs. "Kai, pick up the phone. You can't go forever ignoring her."

                "Watch me," Kai muttered, even as he hit the button. "You've got five minutes. What do you want?" He listened uninterestedly for a while before replying, "No, she's not here. They sent her back to Nagasaki." He paused and then yelled indistinctly. Rei jumped and looked questioningly at his foster brother, who was swearing blue murder. "All right, fine. Where did you want to meet?" He listened a moment longer then hung up the phone, tossing it back over to Rei.

                "What's going on?" Rei inquired.

                "Saadii's missing." Kai replied, standing up abruptly. "My sister said she'd meet me at Taizo Mall in an hour to go to Nagasaki to help look for her."

                "She's missing?" Rei repeated in disbelief.

                "_Yes_," Kai sighed. "And I have a feeling I know where she is. Don't let Kirk and Regine worry too much. Just tell them I'm with Blanche."

                "All right," Rei said doubtfully. "Hey, just out of curiosity," he added as Kai tossed on a sweater and started to head out the window, "How many siblings do you _have_?"

                "Full, half, dead, foster?" Kai asked quickly.

                "All." Rei responded.

                "Five full living, one full dead, five half, currently seven foster, don't even ask me to count in all the homes I've been in." Kai said after a moment of brief calculation.

                "Ye-ouch." Rei muttered. "How can you keep track of them all?"

                "Easily." Kai answered. "I haven't seen most of them in years." He shrugged again and jumped silently out the window, landing with barely a sound on the grass below.

                "Dang, that's a lot of siblings." Rei muttered to himself again as Kai disappeared down the streets into the dark of night. "And I thought Kirk and Regine had numerous kids. That's just downright insane."

                "Where's Kai, Rei?" Kirk asked, pushing open the bedroom door. "He was here a second ago."

                "Um," Rei faltered. "He went somewhere with his sister."

                "At 11 at night?" Kirk said sarcastically.

                "Yeah." Rei nodded, eyes wide.

                "Mmm-hmm." Kirk said unbelievingly. "And I suppose he was accompanied by Kermit the Frog singing Zippity-Doo-Da."

                Rei grinned, despite himself. "Of course."

                Kai disembarked from the bus in front of Taizo Mall to find not only Blanche standing there, but three other adults as well. Groaning internally, Kai gave them an irritated glare.

                "Kai, can we just drop the troubled-teen act and find Saadii?" Blanche asked tiredly.

                "I ain't doing this for you," Kai snapped. "I'm just helping you because you would have no clue where she would be. On the condition that after we find her, you _leave me alone_!"

                "Kai…" Blanche sighed. "We'll discuss this later. Now, where do you figure she would be?"

                Kai closed his eyes a moment. "Probably down in the Nagasaki Industrial area."

                "That's half the city!" the younger man cried out.

                "You asked, I answered." Kai answered curtly.

                "You can't argue there, Cam." The other woman commented. The man fell silent and looked sheepish.

                "All right, so we can split up and search in two sections each. Gemma, you go with Camden. Roarke, you come with Kai and me." Blanche directed.

                Kai rolled his eyes. "Oh, you are _so_ cut out to be a social worker. Great at giving orders, horrible at actually doing anything useful."

                Blanche looked ready to say something when Roarke appeared at her side. "So we're going now, I take it?"

                "Yeah," Blanche answered. "Kai, your foster parents _do_ know you're with us, right?"

                Kai didn't even bother responding, but simply shrugged.

                "Kai?" Blanche repeated.

                "What?" Kai asked peevishly.

                "Did you even _ask_ them if you could leave?"

                "Does it matter?" Kai asked logically. "I got along fine for 16 years without asking permission for anything. Why start now?"

                "Kai!" Blanche exclaimed. "That's it, you're going back and you are _not_ coming out with us."

                Kai's face betrayed an expression of indignity for only a moment before he reverted back to his calm facade. "Fine." he said grouchily. "Good luck trying to find her without me."

                Blanche pulled up to the Toshiro's house to find two police cars parked outside, lights flashing, and what looked like every light in the house on. "Get going. I'll call later."

                Kai glared at the retreating car and then ambled up the walk and opened the front door to find Kirk pacing the living room floor while Regine and Rei were answering questions being posed by the police officers.

                Kirk, of course, was the first one to notice Kai enter the house. "_Where have you been, Kai_?!"

                Kai paused, taken aback. In all his time at the Toshiro household, he had _never_ heard Kirk speak in that tone of voice to anybody. It was rather unnerving.

"Out."

                "Well, you can kiss any more 'outings' for the next month goodbye," Kirk snapped. "I don't care how good the reason was, you had no permission to leave."

                Kai opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it when he saw the look on Kirk's face. He knew he was in for it the moment the officers left. 'Oh well. He has no control over me and what I do, any way.'

                The officers closed their notebooks and stood up. "I think that's sufficient for tonight," one said.

                "He can't tell us anything the other one hasn't already," the other commented. "We'll drop by as soon as we need more information or have news."

                "Thank you," Regine said softly, standing up as well. Closing the door behind them, a minute had barely passed before Kai and Kirk were engaged in verbal combat and Rei had retreated to his bedroom.

                "Kai! Kirk!" Regine reprimanded. "Calm yourselves!" she added, an indistinguishable sound coming from her throat as Kirk's fist made contact with Kai's face and Kai's fist made contact with Kirk's face. There was an unpleasant crack on Kirk's side, a snap from Kai's side and then there was a stunned silence as Kirk and Kai both stared, speechless, at each other.

                "Why are Daddy and Kai beating each other up?" came Griff's timid voice from the top of the staircase.

                Breathing hard, Kai took off again out the door and Kirk dropped, shaking, onto the couch.

                Sighing, Regine sat down on the couch and put a comforting arm around her husband's shoulder, who was muttering to himself, "I can't _believe _I just did that…" and promptly biting his lip to keep from screaming in pain.

                "Mommy, what's going on?" Griff's scared voice came from behind them.

                Regine just shook her head, wondering how badly they had just messed up.

                Tala awoke with a start to the familiar sound of pebbles rattling against his window. 'Kai?' he thought blearily. Rolling out of bed, he crossed to the window to, indeed, find his friend standing below, looking shaken. Opening it and tossing down the rope ladder, he fell back into bed and waited while Kai made his way up.

                Kai jumped inside the room easily, pulled the ladder up behind him and closed the window. "Tala, I'm _dead_. I'm so screwed it's not even funny."

                "Is that a bruise on your face?" Tala asked suspiciously.

                Kai touched his cheek gently. "Yeah, I guess so. He didn't even hit me as hard as I hit him. Tala, I'm so completely and utterly headed back to jail."

                "What'd you do?" Tala asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Kai didn't bother responding but continued to pace back and forth, muttering to himself. His friend watched this agitated state in confusion. He'd never seen Kai this upset before. Something must have gone seriously wrong. And it looked like this was the worst injury he'd seen on Kai in their whole friendship. It looked as though it was nearly killing Kai to talk. "Kai, what happened?"

                Kai said something unintelligible.

                Tala sighed. "Kai, slow down and _calm down_. One thing at a time."

                Kai took a couple of deep breaths and sat down on the ground. "All right, I think I'm good."

                "Now, what happened?" Tala asked softly.

                Kai opened his mouth several times in attempt to answer, but the only thing that got out of his mouth was "… _everything_." Then he promptly lost consciousness.

                "Mommy, where's Kai?" Marina whined the next morning.

                "Yeah, where _is_ Kai?" Rei asked. "He was already gone when I woke up this morning."

                "He left last night," Regine answered brusquely, her back still turned from the kids at the kitchen table. "Marina, Griffith, are your school bags packed?"

                Both the youngsters nodded.

                "Marina! Griffith! Answer me!" Regine snapped, still never turning around.

                "Yes!" the two yelped, eyes wide.

                "What's going on in here?" Kirk mumbled, walking into the kitchen blearily with a colourful array of bruises on his swollen jaw.

                "Ouch. What happened to you?" Rei asked.

                "Don't ask." Kirk answered, barely moving his mouth to talk. This was most likely aided by the fact he had his jaw wired shut.

                "Daddy and Kai were beating each other up last night," Griff informed Rei, who promptly looked extremely shocked. "Daddy had to drive himself to hospital in the middle of the night."

                "What?!" Rei asked in disbelief.

                "What?!" Marina echoed, staring at her father.

                "Griffith, you're exaggerating," Regine sighed, setting a plate of eggs in front of Rei. "To get the record straight, Rei, neither one was 'beating up' the other. Their argument got a little out of hand and both of them got _one _blow on the face. Nothing will happen. Kai'll be back soon enough."

                As if to defy her declaration, the phone and the doorbell rang simultaneously. Kirk took off for the door while Regine got on the phone. Rei watched in frightened curiosity as Regine's face blanched. He could hear a faint voice screeching at Regine from the other end of the line.

                "Oh, no." Regine said. "How is he?" The screeching restarted as Kirk entered the kitchen with a worried look on his face, followed by a stony-faced Mr. Dickinson. Rei's stomach dropped to his feet like a rock.

                "Oh, no." Regine repeated. "Listen, thank you so much for calling. We're going to get this sorted out soon." She groaned as she hung up. "Oh, hello Stanley," she greeted him wearily.

                "You know I hate to do this, Regine, but law's the law." Dickinson said softly. "A minor in your custody has been injured by Kirk. I _am_ required to take all the children away from the home until this is resolved."

                There was a sad, defeated look in both Kirk and Regine's eyes. It scared the heck out of Rei: it was almost as if they had given up.

                Stanley said quietly, "Rei, Marina, Griff, Brietta, Brylee, go pack your things. Rei, can you grab the babies' and Kai's things as well?"

                Rei nodded silently. Though it was stupid to think, he thought it anyway:

_                This is all Kai's fault._


End file.
